Project that could bring 15,000 jobs to Stanislaus County heads to Board of Supervisors

Stanislaus County leaders are poised to approve environmental studies for a major industrial center and general aviation airport at the former Crows Landing airfield.

The proposed Crows Landing Industrial Business Park in western Stanislaus County has not sparked the controversy of its predecessor, West Park, which proposed a 4,800-acre jobs mecca and a multimodal transportation hub connected with the Port of Oakland. West Park was in planning stages for years before the county cut ties with developer Gerry Kamilos in August 2012.

The county wasn’t able to lure a developer for a scaled-down Crows Landing project in early 2013 and released its own plan for reuse of the old naval landing field in 2014. The new proposal calls for 1,528 acres studded with facilities for industry, manufacturing, distribution centers and aviation-related businesses.

A former military runway would be converted for the county’s third public airport. The surrounding business park with 14 million square feet of building space, within a mile of Interstate 5, would develop over 30 years, eventually adding up to 15,000 jobs and creating more demand for housing in local communities.

The environmental study looked at traffic impacts and the need for alternative transportation services, but an important goal of the project is reducing the number of cars on freeways in the broader region, a county official said.

“The mantra for Crows Landing is creating jobs where people already live,” said Keith Boggs, assistant executive officer for Stanislaus County. Boggs pointed out that only 16 percent of full-time employed adults in Patterson work in that city and the number is 12 percent in Newman.

The county needs cooperative agreements with Patterson to move the project forward. Boggs said the county is willing to pay its share for expansion of Patterson’s wastewater facilities in order to treat wastewater from the Crows Landing center.

The city has wastewater service expansion plans tied to economic development; there’s no estimate yet on what the county’s share of costs would be. It is possible an onsite package treatment plant will be used for the first phases of the new business park.

According to an April letter with comments on the environmental study, some attention was drawn to the 1,200-acre Northwest Patterson annexation as a possible home for many of the workers. Churchwell White, which serves as city attorney for Patterson, wrote that the Crows Landing business park will increase demand for housing in Patterson and nearby cities and the Northwest Patterson annexation “would provide the necessary rooftops in Patterson to make the Crows Landing (project) more attractive to larger employers.”

The Churchwell White letter suggested the county endorse the city’s northwest addition in a pre-annexation agreement, but no such agreement was reached. City Manager Ken Irwin was not available for comment Monday.

As for water service, the Crows Landing Community Services District or Patterson’s water system could be expanded to include the business park and airport.

Employers at the center will participate in carpooling and commuter programs to reduce the number of single-occupant car trips on local roads. According to the environmental study, the complex will have a transit stop or commuter shuttle service.

Efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions will include electric vehicle charging stations and energy-efficient designs for buildings.

The county has committed $23 million to fund site improvements to make the property “shovel ready” for development, including improvements to Fink Road and Bell Road. Of that amount, $20 million will come out of general fund reserves.

If the environmental study is approved Tuesday, a master blueprint for the Crows Landing project could receive approval from the Planning Commission in November and supervisors in December.

The county plans to seek proposals from potential master developers sometime next year.

Boggs said he sees the proposed airport as the feather on top of the project. Maintaining an aviation component was required when the county took possession of the Crows Landing site in 2004. The airport could be useful for companies that want to visit their operations at the center, he suggested.

Properties at the center would be offered to business tenants under 30- to 40-year leases.

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the basement chamber of Tenth Street Place, at 1010 10th St., Modesto.