A warehouse project is expected to come to Lake Forest after years of resident pushback arguing that the development, located next to hundreds of homes, will cause nonstop noise, truck traffic and air pollution.
A city council majority agreed during their Tuesday night meeting that the developer proposing the project has done a good enough job addressing community concerns and it should be permitted to move forward.
Lake Forest residents and nearby property owners had filed an appeal challenging the city planning commission’s decision to approve the warehouse project’s site development permit and final environmental impact report during their meeting on June 4.
Lake Forest City Council members voted 4-1 during last night’s meeting to also approve the project’s site development permit and final environmental review, meaning the approval from the planning commission for the proposed project will stand.
“I do hear the concerns, but it seems the applicant went above and beyond,” Mayor Robert Pequeño said at the meeting. “He did just about everything that they were asked and more.”
[Read: Lake Forest Leaders to Review Controversial Warehouse Proposal]
Chris Sanford, a spokesperson representing the developer, said the proposal is fully consistent with the city’s existing zoning code and general plan.
“We recognize that this site sits near a residential community, and we have approached the project with that sensitivity in mind through site planning, architecture, landscaping, operating restrictions and now additional conditions of approval,” Sanford said.
The Meadows neighborhood borders the proposed project site. The community sits on 126 acres south of Bake Parkway and features over 500 single-family homes, 65 senior affordable apartments and seven public parks.
It was approved by the city council in 2020, and the first wave of residents moved in just a couple years later.
Before the residential neighborhood was zoned for residential use, it was zoned for agriculture and operated as a plant nursery.
The light industrial zoning designation for the warehouse site predates the residential zoning for The Meadows.
The proposed project would demolish a currently vacant office building next to The Meadows and replace it with a 165-000-square-foot building with 10,000 square feet set aside for office space, 65,000 square feet for manufacturing and 90,000 square feet for the warehouse.
The development plans also include 23 truck loading areas.
The warehouse does not currently have a tenant, so it was designed to accommodate a large range of uses that could fit the light industrial zoning and land use designation in the area, according to the applicant.
[Read: Lake Forest Residents Protest Proposed Warehouses Near Homes]
Harrison Jiang, a homeowner in The Meadows, spoke at the meeting on behalf of the group who filed the appeal.
“We are not against business,” he said. “We are not against warehouses; we are against massive warehouses being built directly adjacent to residential homes.”
Jiang asked the council to protect neighborhoods like his.
“Who is going to protect our homeowners and residents?” Jiang said. “That responsibility belongs to all of us, and especially to the public officials entrusted with protecting the health, safety and welfare of Lake Forest residents.”
Councilmember Benjamin Yu voted no after saying the city already has a lot of warehouses and more are on the way.
“What do you want our community to become?” he asked his council colleagues.
The project applicant agreed to a series of conditions for the project, including a “quiet zone” in the area closest to homes and a limit of 15 trucks per hour during the day and four trucks per hour at night.
Quiet zone hours would kick in daily from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. — during those times, trucks would be prohibited from using backup alarms or idling engines.
Councilmember Scott Voigts said the developer addressed all the concerns of the community.
“(The developer) has gone far above what is needed to mitigate the concerns of the residents — the wall, the trees, the hours, the five extra concessions they made to make this a better building — it’s evident in tonight’s hearing,” he said.
Sanford, the developer’s spokesperson, emphasized that the existing office building would create more daily car trips than the proposed warehouse project if the office were to reopen as is.
“This is not a chemical plant. This is not a heavy factory or a massive IE (Inland Empire)-style regional warehouse,” Sanford said.
“Ultimately, we believe much of the remaining concern and opposition is the result of significant misinformation about our proposed project.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
