The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Environmental Impact Report(EIR) for the Crows Landing Industrial Business Park, certifying that the 1,500 acre plot used in World War II and for later military functions is now ready for rebirth. Since 1999, when site clean up first began, there have been talks about infrastructure, meetings about job opportunities, conversations with legislators and planners, strategy sessions on infrastructure but nothing as momentous as today’s decision, moving us “one step closer to this promising and exciting opportunity,†as stated by Supervisor Kristin Olsen.
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors dedicated $22.9 million in the 2018-2019 Final Budget to support development of the Crows Landing Industrial Business Park. At full build out, Crows Landing could provide 14,000 jobs for local residents, eliminating the need to commute out of county. It is also primely located for easy access to the Bay Area and boasts a usable air strip. The appeal of a Northwest to Southeast runway sets this site apart from other development opportunities in the region.
It provides a path to creating jobs where people live. “Either we are serious about creating jobs or we’re not,†according to Supervisor Olsen, who has remained close to discussions on this project for many years as an elected official with the City of Modesto, State Assembly and now as a Stanislaus County Supervisor. Assistant CEO, Keith Boggs addressed this topic in his message to Supervisors on Tuesday as well, attesting to the woes of commuters in Stanislaus County.
“Ours is a commuter culture,†said Boggs in his presentation and staff reqeust to accept the EIR and allocate millions of County funds to infrastructure, planning and general support this effort. “So many of our fulltime workers leave the County each day, traveling significant distances to work, only to face the same commute in the evening, spending tragic amounts of time in a car or van pool, in traffic congestion, not at home, not with family, without the time to engage with neighborhood or community. The Crows Landing Industrial Business Park will further contribute to providing living wage jobs here, reducing or eliminating many work commutes. This is about creating jobs where our people live,†Boggs concluded.
Developing a healthy economy means providing jobs and encouraging local investments. This is the target approach of the new Opportunity Zone designation approved earlier this year, which the Crows Landing Industrial Park has been designated part of - allowing investors to avoid costly Capital Gains tax and defer payment for ten years on property investment/development in any of the designated tax incentive “Opportunity Zones.†The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provided the new tax incentive to inspire private investments in low-income areas of the United States, based on U.S. census data. Earlier in October, the Treasury department released regulations that economists believe will facilitate hundreds of billions of dollars in private capital.
Phase I of Crows Landing Industrial Business Park development can begin as soon as the final entitlement processes are complete in early December. For the right investors, this is a diamond in the rough. Located less than one mile from CA Highway I-5, the location is well suited for logistics and goods distribution. A ten-minute connection flight to San Jose Airport, twelve minutes to Oakland Airport, or thirteen minutes to San Francisco, as well as quick and easy freeway access to the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, provide a level of convenience the County believes will appeal to most developers and corporate decision makers in the urban bay region.
Crows Landing project objectives include a regional employment center, attractive location for manufacturing, industry and distribution, a mix of land use classifications, services (i.e. transit, banking and child care for workers), shovel-ready infrastructure, general aviation capabilities, a walkable/attractive industrial business park campus, and historical recognition of the site’s original use.
Transportation studies and environmental impact reports of the area, indicate increased traffic impacting West County regions of Newman and parts of Patterson. Negotiations are underway to prepare for road use increases as the County works with the cities affected. A thirty-day comment period, through November 13th will allow for reaction to the EIR, found here Phase I of the Crows Landing Project is on track to be shovel ready in early 2020 and is expected to develop in phases over the next thirty years.
More information at Crowsbizpark.biz.
