Judge halts Howard Industrial’s warehouse project in IE

A judge has ordered Howard Industrial Partners to halt work on a 213-acre warehouse project in Bloomington after the developer demolished more than 100 homes.

Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez told the Orange-based developer to put a stop to the 2.1 million-square-foot project after finding fault with the Bloomington Business Park’s environmental impact report, the San Bernardino Sun and Los Angeles Times reported.

The controversial development of three warehouses surrounded by Santa Ana, Jurupa, Maple, Linden and Alder avenues in rural, unincorporated San Bernardino County was approved in late 2022. It required the bulldozing of 117 homes.

Environmental and community groups then sued the county, alleging the approval of the Bloomington Business Park violated regulations in state environmental and housing laws.

The judge’s nearly 100-page ruling forbids the developer and the county “from taking any action to construct the project” until the county complies with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Alvarez ruled that the county’s review of the project failed to conform with the state law intended to inform decision-makers and the public about the potential environmental harms of proposed developments.

He found the county had failed to properly analyze renewable energy options, noise and how air emissions from the project would impact public health.

He ordered construction halted until the county rewrites the report to comply with the law. Howard Industrial said it would appeal parts of the ruling and predicted delays to the project would be short.

Mike Tunney, vice president of Howard Industrial, said in a statement that the ruling requires only “minor revisions” to the report, “which the county will quickly address.” He said the judge upheld the report’s analysis of traffic impacts, environmental justice, cumulative impacts and language access provisions.

“We are committed to making the necessary adjustments to address the issues identified by the court,” Tunney said. “We continue to look forward to fulfilling our very significant commitments to the Bloomington community.”

The project would add three warehouses to the Inland Empire, a market labeled “America’s Shopping Cart” by one study for its estimated 1 billion square feet of warehouses supporting a logistics industry connecting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with doorsteps and shopping aisles nationwide, according to the Sun.

In the first half of the year, the IE led the nation in large industrial leases.

Critics say the logistics industry has worsened the region’s poor air quality through diesel truck emissions, while adding noise from 24-hour truck traffic and shunting workers into low-paying, back-breaking jobs threatened by warehouse automation.

The Bloomington project, in addition to razing homes, would demolish an elementary school, according to the Sun. A replacement school would be built, displaced homeowners got money to relocate and a zoning change at a nearby 72-acre site would allow 480 apartments or condominiums to be built on land that had been zoned for 52 single-family homes.

Howard also agreed to pay $39 million for street infrastructure improvements, $30 million for flood control measures and $1.1 million a year into a fund to bolster police coverage in Bloomington, according to the county.

Candice Youngblood, attorney for one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, Earthjustice, said “the court’s decision is crystal clear: San Bernardino County wronged the Bloomington community in the approval of this project.

“The county and the developer will need to fix the serious defects that underpinned the decision to cram more warehouses so close to schools and residences.”

A bill to regulate warehouse development, Assembly Bill 98, would require buffers between big warehouses and residential neighborhoods. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign the bill, veto it or let it expire without his signature.

— Dana Bartholomew