West Park foe drops its lawsuit

Stanislaus off hook, group will back Patterson effort

By Ken Carlson
kcarlson@modbee.com

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A grass-roots organization fighting the proposed 4,800-acre West Park business and industrial park has dropped a lawsuit challenging the project.

But the legal wrangling will continue as Patterson appeals a Fresno County Superior Court judge's decision in West Park's favor.

The West Side-Patterson Alliance for the Community and the Environment, or WS-PACE, announced Friday it was dropping a similar lawsuit filed in September in Stanislaus County Superior Court and will throw its support behind Patterson's appeal to the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno. The Del Puerto Health Care District is a co-plaintiff in the city's legal action.

"We are pleased that the city and the health district are moving forward," WS-PACE President Ron Swift said in a news release. "(The alliance) has not ruled out future legal action in this matter. We hope that Stanislaus County planning processes concerning the West Park Crows Landing project will be open, transparent and legally compliant."

The West Park project calls for a business and industrial complex in and around the county-owned Crows Landing Air Facility southeast of Patterson to be anchored by a rail line and inland port linked to the Port of Oakland.

The proposal has drawn widespread opposition on the West Side over concerns about train traffic, lost farmland, increased air pollution and traffic congestion.

The lawsuits charged that an environmental impact report should have been completed before the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved an April 2008 agreement with West Park developer Gerry Kamilos. The agreement gave Kamilos the green light to continue work on the project. The city's lawsuit, filed in May, was moved to Fresno County to avoid conflicts with local judges.

Judge Tyler Tharpe said in his decision in January that it was only an initial agreement, so it did not require an environmental report. Language in the agreement states that the county has not made a final commitment to West Park.

City will continue to object

Patterson City Manager Cleve Morris said the city has too many concerns about West Park to let the matter rest. "We are going to continue with our objection to it," he said. "We are going to take this one step at a time."

Mike Lynch, a consultant for West Park, said Friday the continued litigation is unnecessary because an environmental study is under way to address the issues. County officials have said the draft report should be completed in the fall, at which time the public can comment on how well it addresses the effects on the West Side communities.

Ed Maring, president of the Del Puerto Health Care District, said the business complex will increase the demand for health care services in an area with few medical facilities.

"We have never been brought into the negotiations (with the county and West Park), so we have no assurances the impacts will be mitigated," Maring said. "When a project of this kind is built, you have to have health care and medical services in place."

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at kcarlson@modbee.com or 578-2321.