West Park bears all costs of grant

Firm responsible for matching funds

By Tim Moran
tmoran@modbee.com

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The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors put PCCP West Park LLC on the hook Tuesday for all the costs related to a state grant to build a short-haul rail system and inland port near Crows Landing.

The vote makes West Park responsible for $35 million in matching funds the county needs to get a $22.5 million grant from the California Transportation Commission for the inland port and rail link to the Port of Oakland.

The rail link and inland port are part of the 4,800-acre business and industrial park West Park developer Gerry Kamilos is proposing in and around the county's Crows Landing Air Facility southeast of Patterson.

On-going coverage: Crows Landing development

Board Chairman Jim DeMartini, a vocal critic of the project, voted against the agreement, which was approved on a 4-1 vote. The Board of Supervisors also received a letter from a citizens group, WS-PACE.org, asking the board to delay considering the agreement.

DeMartini, who represents District 5, where the West Park project is located, said opposition to the project on the West Side and lawsuits that have been filed against it are why he opposes the agreement.

"I just can't see doing this at this time," he said. "There's no way I'm going to vote for it."

Project means jobs

The approval of the agreement by the rest of the board, however, authorizes DeMartini as board chairman to sign the agreement with West Park.

The city of Patterson and WS-PACE.org both filed lawsuits last year contending that the board's vote naming Kamilos as master developer for the project required an Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act.

A judge in Fresno County ruled last week in the Patterson lawsuit that the county vote did not require the environmental report. The WS-PACE.org lawsuit is pending in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

County Chief Executive Officer Rick Robinson commented that the project would create jobs in a time of high unemployment. "I strongly encourage the board to move forward," he said.

The agreement committing to the funding of the matching money is one of four requirements from the California Transportation Commission, said deputy county CEO Keith Boggs. The others are completion of a California Environmental Quality Act review of the project, which is under way; submission of an operation and business plan, which has been done; and negotiation for use of rail right-of-way with Union Pacific railroad, which is expected to start in the next few months, Boggs said.

No approval obligated

The agreement approved Tuesday means that no county funds will be obligated with the state grant, according to county staff. West Park will be obligated to reimburse the county for the cost of processing the agreement.

The agreement doesn't obligate the county to approve the project at the end of the environmental review, said Steve Mattas, a consulting attorney on the project. The board can still consider alternatives, make modifications based on the review, or reject the project altogether, he said.

The lack of a firm Board of Supervisors' commitment to the project was the key reason the Fresno judge ruled last week that the project did not yet require the completion of the environmental review.

WS-PACE.org President Ron Swift, in the letter objecting to the board's action, said the agreement "further limits and narrows the alternatives" the board has in considering the project.

"We object to any future approvals which commit Stanislaus County resources to a project in advance of a CEQA review," Swift's letter said.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.