The Yucaipa City Council’s August 25 vote to approve the long-gestating update of the city Freeway Corridor Specific Plan and a parallel proposal to construct two large warehouses within that designated area has triggered an effort by residents of the local area to seek a referendum rescinding that action.
The previously applicable development standards and blueprint for land use and its intensity in the 1,242 acres along the freeway and surrounding areas in Yucaipa was adopted in November 2008 as the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan. The planning document allowed for the construction of up to 2,447 residential units on 424.7 acres and up to 4,585,779 square feet of nonresidential uses on 242.7 acres within the 1,242-acre area.
In recent years, a handful of projects that were proposed and approved, taken together with development proposals on within the 1,241-acre expanse prompted calls for the specific plan’s adjustment. Almost one year ago, the Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families sought permission to construct warehouses along Live Oak Canyon.
Then-Mayor Justin Beaver, Councilman Chris Venable and then-Councilman Matt Garner balked at the proposal, while then-Councilman Bobby Duncan and then-Councilman Jon Thorp were willing to let the projects proceed.
There were at that time two mindsets with regard to the warehouse issue. Pro-development advocates wanted to keep them out of Live Oak Canyon. Those of the opposite persuasion believed that warehouses represent far too intensive of a land use in rustic Live Oak Canyon. Both camps agreed in one respect: They wanted the then-16-year-old Freeway Corridor Specific Plan scrapped. Those in favor of aggressive development wanted a more generous allotment of land to be eligible for light and medium industrial use, including property within the mouth of Live Oak Canyon that falls inside Yucaipa’s borders. Those intent to see the natural aspect of Live Oak Canyon preserved want the specific plan altered to prohibit light and medium industrial uses in the canyon and for the city to encourage that kind of land use to take place elsewhere within the 1,241 acres along the periphery of the 10 Freeway. In September 2024 and the months thereafter, the council receded from dealing with the calls from both sides to revamp the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan.
With the November 2024 election, Garner was recalled from office, after which he was replaced through action of the council by Bob Miller. Duncan did not seek reelection, and he was replaced by Judy Woolsey.
The Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families did not abandon their designs on constructing warehouses along Live Oak Canyon. The Yucaipa planning division has consistantly sought to accommodate their overtures. The clash between the Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families on one side and those intent on protecting the sanctity of Live Oak Canyon loomed for months and at last manifested on August 25, when the council considered the update of the city’s blueprint for development in nearby environs of the 10 Freeway, along with proposals for two warehouses with nearing or exceeding floor plans of a million square feet each.
The Yucaipa City Council’s August 25 vote to approve the long-gestating update of the city Freeway Corridor Specific Plan and a parallel proposal to construct two large warehouses within that designated area has triggered an effort by residents of the local area to seek a referendum rescinding that action.
The previously applicable development standards and blueprint for land use and its intensity in the 1,242 acres along the freeway and surrounding areas in Yucaipa was adopted in November 2008 as the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan. The planning document allowed for the construction of up to 2,447 residential units on 424.7 acres and up to 4,585,779 square feet of nonresidential uses on 242.7 acres within the 1,242-acre area.
In recent years, a handful of projects that were proposed and approved, taken together with development proposals on within the 1,241-acre expanse prompted calls for the specific plan’s adjustment. Almost one year ago, the Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families sought permission to construct warehouses along Live Oak Canyon.
Then-Mayor Justin Beaver, Councilman Chris Venable and then-Councilman Matt Garner balked at the proposal, while then-Councilman Bobby Duncan and then-Councilman Jon Thorp were willing to let the projects proceed.
There were at that time two mindsets with regard to the warehouse issue. Pro-development advocates wanted to keep them out of Live Oak Canyon. Those of the opposite persuasion believed that warehouses represent far too intensive of a land use in rustic Live Oak Canyon. Both camps agreed in one respect: They wanted the then-16-year-old Freeway Corridor Specific Plan scrapped. Those in favor of aggressive development wanted a more generous allotment of land to be eligible for light and medium industrial use, including property within the mouth of Live Oak Canyon that falls inside Yucaipa’s borders. Those intent to see the natural aspect of Live Oak Canyon preserved want the specific plan altered to prohibit light and medium industrial uses in the canyon and for the city to encourage that kind of land use to take place elsewhere within the 1,241 acres along the periphery of the 10 Freeway. In September 2024 and the months thereafter, the council receded from dealing with the calls from both sides to revamp the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan.
With the November 2024 election, Garner was recalled from office, after which he was replaced through action of the council by Bob Miller. Duncan did not seek reelection, and he was replaced by Judy Woolsey.
The Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families did not abandon their designs on constructing warehouses along Live Oak Canyon. The Yucaipa planning division has consistently sought to accommodate their overtures. The clash between the Palmer, Robinson, and Issa families on one side and those intent on protecting the sanctity of Live Oak Canyon loomed for months and at last manifested on August 25, when the council considered an update of the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan which called for increasing the permissible number of residential units from 2,447 to a total of 2,472, while changing the amount of land upon which nonresidential uses could be constructed from 4,585,779 square feet or 105.275 acres to 5,093,265 square feet or 116.93 acres. The revamping of the specific plan, in addition to providing for an increase of 25 residential units into the area overall, upped by 2,786,461 square feet the amount of land that could be developed under the city’s Business Park (BP) zoning and reduced by 2,278,976 square feet the amount of land that could be developed under the city’s Regional Commercial (RC) zoning. Since the BP zoning includes warehousing as a permissible use, the change increased substantially the amount of warehouses that are likely to be constructed within the 1,242 specific plan area, extending to Live Oak Canyon.
Included with the specific plan update item was consideration of the Pacific Oaks Commerce Center, which consisted of the development of two buildings, one being a 1,032,500-square-foot warehouse, a second 981,500-square-foot warehouse and a 20,000-square-foot office, totaling 2,054,000 square feet of building space, as well as truck parking and docking bays, consistent with the provisions included in the Freeway Specific Plan Update.
Over the objections of a number of local residents who showed up at the meeting, the Yucaipa City Council approved the project in a 4-1 vote this week, with Mayor Jon Thorp and Councilmembers Justin Beaver, Judy Woolsey and Bob Miller prevailing and Councilman Chris Venable dissenting.
Offering his view that the warehouses developments would not prove compatible with other projects anticipated for the area and that the intensification of truck traffic in the area would be “a disaster,” Venable in vain sought to have council reject the update as presented. That motion failed to get a second.
City staff in its report sought to justify the update and the two warehouse projects by noting that the city had expended close to $1.5 million in examining and reexamining the specific plan over the last three years, that the warehouse developer will reimburse the city $500,000 toward that amount and the city will net somewhere in the neighborhood of $14 million in development impact fees from the projects.
In reaction to the city’s action, Friends of Live Oak Canyon said they will seek to place a referendum on the June 2026 ballot to countermand the city council’s August 25 vote.
David Matuszak, the president of Friends of Live Oak Canyon, called upon all of those members of both the Yuciapa, Redlands, San Benardino County and Riverside County communities who value the atmosphere and tranquility Live Oak Canyon to come together in action and prevent the loss of “a lifestyle we commonly value.”
Matuszak said, “When you travel along the four-mile stretch of Live Oak Canyon from Interstate 10 at the north end and San Timoteo Canyon to the southwest, you would never know you were in Southern California. It is an oasis of open space, cattle ranches, horse ranches, large, five-acre estate homes and protected open space. Roughly 25 to 30 percent of the property along the road is under the control of the Redlands Conservancy, which includes nature trails and three preserves, the Herngt ‘Aki’ [meaning “rattlesnake house in the indigenous Serrano language] Preserve, the Quail Canyon Preserve and the Gateway Preserve. The action taken by the Yucaipa City Council on August 25 will begin the gradual destruction of the Canyon as it now exists. We don’t want that natural beauty spoiled.”
The entity he heads, Friends of Live Oak Canyon and a small group of others, Matuszak said, have already taken the first steps in the resistance to the city’s designs on Live Oak Canyon.
“The Thursday following the vote, the city was handed a notification that we intend to place a referendum on the ballot,” Matuszak told the Sentinel on September 4. “Under the law, the city has ten days to respond. So, we are about seven days into the ten day period, in a holding pattern, waiting for the city’s response. Once the city responds, that will set the clock in motion and we will have 30 days to gather over 4,000 signatures on the petition for the referendum. Signature gathering will be begin next week, on about September 8 or 9. I don’t think it’s realistic that we can meet the deadline to get this on the upcoming November ballot, so we are probably looking at the June primary next year.”
Matuszak said there is no doubt that adequate sentiment exists against what the city is doing to create a groundswell of opposition to stop it. He said it is merely a matter of getting all of the political horses hitched up to the wagon and pulling in the same direction at the same time.
“The city council voted on the project last week,” Matuszak said. “We are going to strike while the iron is hot. We are looking for the public, for those people who feel as we do and are fed up with warehouses in the Inland Empire, in particular in Yucaipa, to step up. If anyone is willing to assist us with time or a contribution, we will accept it. We need well over $60,000 to fund this. We are looking for donations. Of course we are appealing to Yucaipa’s voters, but you don’t have to live in Yucaipa to be part of this. We are looking for prospective volunteers.”
The referendum petition drive has put a hold on the projects approved on August 25, any further ones in the pipeline on on the desks of the city’s planning and community development staff and any others that are being contemplated but have not yet reached the application stage, Matuszak said.
“The petition is calling for a referendum that will rescind the city council decision and overturn the freeway corridor plan, which in turn allows for the building of mega-warehouses. While we are in the act of signature gathering, the development application is on hold. Nothing can be approved at City Hall from the time we notified the city that we intend to seek a referendum. That froze the city’s ability to move forward with any projects that fall under the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan. The city can do nothing until the referendum is decided.”
The best advertising for the movement he is heading, Matuszak said, are the 1,032,500-square-foot and 981,500-square-foot monstrosities approved by the city council on August 25.
“Those are the only ones approved under the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan so far,” he said, which should give everyone a clear understanding of what will occur if the council’s action in approving the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan update is allowed to stands. “This development opens the door for further development,” he said.
The city cut corners in approving the two projects on August 25, according to Matuszak, by using a 17-year-old supplemental environmental impact report for the projects, aspects of which are outdated, he said. A number of residents wanted a new environmental impact report undertaken or an updated supplemental environmental study used to certify the project. The city refused, Matuszak said, which is a harbinger of what will come if the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan is left in place as it is.
“There is irony in all of this,” Mautuszak said. “The Palmers were the founders of the Friends of Live Oak Canyon, a 5013c dedicated to preserving the natural environment of Live Oak Canyon. The Palmer Family owned the Christmas Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch which were landmarks at the intersection of Live Oak Canyon and the I-10 for two generations. The Palmer Family was instrumental in getting the organization I am now the president of founded. When industrialization and urbanization threatened their thriving Christmas tree operation, they resisted. There was a concrete block factory close to where the current In-N-Out Burger now stands. Way back, when the state decided it was going to put in a new interchange at the freeway and Live Oak Canyon, it used eminent domain there. What followed was an effort to move the concrete block factory near the Christmas Tree Farm. The Palmers were the leaders in forming the Friends of Live Oak Canyon. They wanted to protect and keep the land natural when someone else was trying to ruin the the natural beauty of of the canyon. So, what has changed? It’s all about money.”
During the August 25 public hearing on the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan update and the approval of the two warehouses, Matuszak said, “The other landowners were side-by-side with the Palmers to support their plans The plans of the others are contingent on the same Freeway Corridor Specific Plan.”
Without the referendum and the vote to undo what has been done, there will be warehouse crammed along the freeway near its confluence with Live Oak Canyon Road as well as up into the mouth of the canyon, Matuszak said.
There are already too many existing warehouses, Matuszak said.
“At the county line in Calimesa, across the freeway from Yucaipa, is a vacant warehouse,” he said. “Two years ago, a giant warehouse was built near the 10 Freeway in Cherry Valley. It is still vacant. There is one off California Street in Redlands. at the spot where Pharaoh’s Kingdom was. It is completed and is vacant and for lease or sale. So much warehouse space is unoccupied. We don’t need any more. We don’t need the traffic or urban blight. In the areas surrounding warehouses, the temperature has increased by two degrees solely because of the reflective heat coming off the concrete roofs, where the heat was previously absorbed by the vegetation and soil. This is beyond what we are experiencing with global warming.”
“This land has been previously closed to warehouse projects,” Matuszak said. “For those who want to put a stop to this insanity, the time to act is now. Yucaipa grass root organizations are teaming with the Friends of Live Oak Canyon and the Save Live Oak Canyon groups to make sure we get a referendum in place so the city council cannot act unilaterally to destroy the quality of our community. If this referendum petition is successful and the citizens vote the way there is every indication they will, it will send a very loud message to future developers who attempt to ruin Live Oak Canyon that citizens will not stand by and allow that destruction to take place. We will turn back this action and we will repeat our efforts as many times as necessary to protect this canyon.”
Matuszak invited anyone willing to join in with Friends of Live Oak Canyon to contact him at dave@pacificsunset.com.
-Mark Gutglueck