The following updates were provided by Riverside County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.
More March Flights?
This issue has been a head-scratcher for me. The local brass at March Air Reserve have been weighing in with strong desires to ratchet down future increases of private sector air flights in and out of the military base by the March Joint Powers Authority (JPA). They have also shared concerns over private sector access onto the base.
As I have shared in previous articles, in the 90’s when the former Air Force Base was being substantially downsized to a “reserve” base, and the community was afraid we’d be left with a gigantic economic black hole as a result, the military agreed to allow up to 21,000 private sector flights per year. Fast forward to today’s new political and international challenges in the Pacific Theater, there had been a mutual understanding that the total number of private sector flights would need to be in the 7,000 or 8,000 range going forward.
Well… that understanding was good right until the March JPA Commission meeting last month when the JPA Commission was asked by JPA staff to approve a new long-term airport infrastructure development plan. The JPA agenda presentation pointed out three times that the JPA would proceed with long-term planning and federal grant funding requests to build out the airport infrastructure to accommodate – you guessed it – up to 21,000 private sector flights! The new plan was unfortunately approved on a 6-2 vote (I was one of the “no” votes), with no explanation provided for abandoning the 7,000 to 8,000 limit.
Paving the Holes
You may recall a few months back I took issue with the deteriorating condition of the I-215 freeway road surface from Perris to Riverside City. Numerous residents have been writing to our office seeking help with the embarrassing condition of the state-owned highway.
Well, the good news is that Cal-Trans heard from everyone loud and clear and is kicking off the rehabilitation work. And, of course, the bad news is that the already over-whelmed freeway will have new delays during construction hours (M-F days from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.). It is long overdue – so just bear with them. For more information, and to subscribe to regular updates on the 215 repairs, click here.
Warehouses
On September 29, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 98, which amongst a host of big and small changes will require new standards for nearly all future proposed logistic facilities (aka: warehouses) in our region. Developers that had already submitted their specific warehouse proposals before September 30 will be allowed to process under the old rules, but all new proposals will be subject to new standards.
Cities and counties have significant land use-related policies and regulations to implement and modify for new warehouses that reach or exceed 250,000 square feet. The details are being reviewed as I write this article, but include greater setbacks of loading bays from homes (and others) will range from 500 to up to 900 feet, increased landscaping buffers, locating truck entrances and exits away from homes, increased air quality monitoring standards, and agreements for designated truck routes (for both city and county roads). This is just a brief preliminary listing of the rules. More to follow. For details on Assembly Bill 98, click here.
Extending I-15 Toll Lanes
The Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) has released its draft Environmental document for the proposed (and outrageously expensive) I-15 Express Lanes Project (read: Toll Lanes extension) from Corona to Lake Elsinore.
Now before you send me a nasty email about this toll proposal, please understand I don’t like it any more than anyone else. I’m as stubborn as a red brick and I don’t and won’t use toll lanes – But…we are in California and our state government will generally not help counties (and cities) build freeway expansions (even though the state is mandating that Riverside County (and its cities) add 167,351 more residential units (40,000 just in unincorporated communities).
In fact, while the county and cities work to be in full compliance with state housing requirements – various state regulatory agencies (and private groups) will actively work to oppose any and all freeway expansions to meet the growing population needs – unless the proposed expansion is funded via toll lane revenues (theoretically toll lanes discourage people from using freeways).
So the bottom line from the state is that we (Riverside County residents) can either expand our freeway capacity with toll lanes or we don’t build any new freeway capacity at all. Of course, buses and trains are an option from some limited parts of the county – provided they can meet your unique transportation needs and arrival times. If you want to read more, click here.
Elections
Soon, the election for the new First District county supervisor will be over and the new supervisor-elect can start gearing up for the new job starting in early January. If you want or need any information on the election in Riverside County (where/when to vote, voter guide, results, etc.), click here.
