Saturday, June 28, 2008

Air base plan on to next step by 4-1 vote; critics say fight not over

By TIM MORAN
tmoran@modbee.com

last updated: April 23, 2008 08:06:00 AM

After more than four hours of public debate, Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos won the right Tuesday to continue work on his 4,800-acre business and industrial park on Stanislaus County's West Side.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of the PCCP West Park LLC project, with District 5 Supervisor Jim DeMartini casting the lone dissenting vote. Supervisor Bill O'Brien, who voted against West Park in February 2007, sided with Supervisors Dick Monteith, Jeff Grover and Tom Mayfield this time.

The vote came after impassioned pleas for and against West Park. The project was referred to as a "golden egg" for the county and a "rotten egg" for the West Side.

More than 200 people filled most of the seats in the supervisors' chambers.

The vote was to approve a memorandum of understanding that spells out terms and conditions West Park will have to meet in working out a more formal and detailed agreement with the county and its redevelopment agency.

West Park also will begin work on an environmental review that is expected to take up to two years, addressing issues such as air pollution, water source and traffic issues. Kamilos' team must negotiate an agreement with the California Transportation Commission about how to build a short-haul rail system and inland port.

The rail and inland port are the anchor to the West Park project, in and around the county's 1,527-acre Crows Landing Air Facility. The state transportation commission has earmarked $22.4 million for the rail project, connecting West Park to the Port of Oakland. Kamilos contends that the development will generate 37,000 jobs over 30 years.

Proponents included the Modesto and Turlock chambers of commerce, the Stanislaus Workforce and Economic Development Alliance, the county Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and representatives of local carpenters and electrical workers unions.

Opponents included the cities of Patterson and Newman, the West Side Resource Conservation District, and representatives of WS-PACE.org, a group of residents organized to oppose the project.

The most compelling arguments on both sides came from residents. West Side residents opposed to the project talked of the destruction of the quality of life in the rural area, while proponents described watching their children and grandchildren leave the county because they couldn't find jobs.

Goal: Good jobs here

Diane Kaminski said her children had to move out of the area to find jobs with decent pay. Her husband commutes 75 miles a day, she said, to earn enough to pay their mortgage.

"I have 11 grandchildren. I won't be around (when West Park is finished), but they will," she said.

Sandra McDowell of Patterson said the project will take pollution off the Altamont Pass, but increase it in Patterson, Newman and Crows Landing.

"I am an asthmatic. You can't work if you can't breathe," she said. "It's a frightening thing."

Martin Duckworth, a retired Lockheed employee who worked in Sunnyvale, said he has seven children, 22 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. "I want an environment where they have the opportunity to work," he said.

Duckworth said he had co-workers who lived in Modesto and commuted to Sunnyvale for 25 years. "That's 975,000 miles over a lifetime," he said. "There are not good jobs here in Modesto. I ask you to do everything you can to support West Park and projects like it."

Veronica Woodruff of Newman asked where the water would come from, and whether the West Park jobs would be filled with residents or more commuters. Crowding in schools and traffic also are concerns, she said.

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