Monday, December 31, 2007

Rialto Mulls Levying a Tax on Large Warehouse Sites (SB Sun Dec. 25, 2007) Rialto is looking to tax everyone to death, then charge them a death tax to leave...

BS Ranch Perspective
 
Looks like Rialto is following the footsteps, or at least looking to follow in the footsteps of a neighboring city of Redlands with the charge of extra taxes reference to the large Square Footage of Where houses that are all the rage in the cities in the Inland Empire, the only trouble is that they hopefully won't take the time to over charge the Where houses that just might cause them to change them to move them away to another city that doesn't charge such an EXTRA TAX!! Rialto might be playing with fire, I say a small tax yes, but not a whole tax like Redlands is embarking upon!!
 
Buck
 
Rialto mulls levying a tax on large warehouse sites
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - City officials say they're open to the idea of levying a tax on the large warehouses filling up the last chunks of the city's empty land.

A tax could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars or more a year to help offset some of the costs all the big rigs inflict, like traffic and damaged roads.

"I think it could be a viable option," said Councilman Joe Baca Jr.

The idea is something city staff has talked about, said Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

In November, 71 percent of Redlands voters approved a new warehouse license tax of 3.5 cents per square foot, which will bring in about $250,000 a year. The rate will increase every year to keep up with inflation until it hits 5 cents per square foot.

Rialto has about 10 million square feet of distribution center warehouses and could add another 10 million in the next five to 10 years.

City Administrator Henry Garcia said he would have to see some numbers before coming to a conclusion about a distribution tax.

"We'd have to assess the economics of that," he said last week.

But he said he thought a distribution tax wouldn't bring in much money.

A tax at the Redlands rate could bring in a few hundred thousand dollars a year. Rialto's 8 percent tax on utilities brings in more than $12 million a year, so replacing very much of the utility tax with a distribution tax would not be easy.

Besides, the utility tax brings in a lot

of money from distributors because of their high electricity bills, Steel said.

Voters might like the idea of a distribution tax because of the pollution and damage to streets wrought by the trucks, he said.

Rialto already has a fee in place that's similar to the new Redlands tax.

In 2005, Rialto modified its business license fee policy for warehouses to allow businesses to have their annual fee calculated at a rate of 5 cents a square foot, said Greg Lantz, economic development manager.

Instead of making businesses disclose their gross receipts to calculate the fee, distributors can just pay the flat fee.

But not all the distributors pay their business license that way.

So far, no one at City Hall has done a thorough analysis of the implications of a distribution tax.

The city is still reliant on the utility tax, which provides more money to the general fund than any other source.

"Well, I think you know from the city's perspective, we've got to become more fiscally sound," Lantz said.

jason.pesick@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3861

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Trucks Keep Rolling (Daily Bulletin December 22, 2007) Job-Starved Rialto attracting distribution centers....

BS Ranch Perspective

Looks like the growth of the city isn't what the City Council of Rialto Wants, Ed Scott Threatening to NOT VOTE for the new Building of a Business in the City of which he claims to love. The original Plans of which he claims to have had some input on regarding the Renaissance, Most of that is now planning to be turned into Distribution Centers, Just think if they had kept the Airport, and Expanded the Runway, but closed Laural Ave., but keeping Alder expanded and running through from the I-210 S/to the I-10 Freeway On/Off Ramps.  to allow Trucks to go to the stores to deliver goods, but if the Rialto Airport was expanded to allow Jets they could bring in the goods via Jet aircraft and C-130 Airplanes, major shipping could be in and out directly from Rialto. I don't know if Rialto tried to have this done originally, but if they did without wanting to get their hands on the property taxes and close the businesses that are currently at the airport. They also made promises to the Sheriff of the County that they could not keep. When I say they I am talking of Certain Members of the Rialto City Council, excluding the Mayor, Grace had nothing to do with Selling Rialto Police Department to the County!! At least there wasn't any evidence to prove that she was involved.

BS Ranch



Trucks keep rolling
Job-starved Rialto attracting distribution centers
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - This was once a sleepy, orange-growing town.

Now, a few decades after it transformed into a bedroom community, Rialto is becoming a small distribution hub. This means a lot more trucks are rolling through town.

In the last five years, about 10 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space was built in Rialto. The city could see that same amount of space be built again in the next five to 10 years, estimated Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

"I think what you're seeing is that distribution and logistics is still having a heavy economic impact," said City Administrator Henry Garcia.

The new distribution centers bring jobs, something the city desperately needs. But they also bring trucks that clog and tear up the streets and pollute the air.

There are a few reasons why Rialto is seeing distribution centers sprout up.

One is that, like most areas in the Inland Empire, there is a lot of affordable land.

Rialto also wants to boost its economy with more jobs. Part of the pull, though, has to do with fluctuations in the real-estate market.

"At least at the moment, it's still healthy," Steel said of the industrial market.

A few years ago, cities were increasing the amount of housing in their development plans. Now, they're shifting housing to industrial.

In the south end of town, Panattoni Development is finishing work on a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center.

Also on the south end, Oakmont Industrial purchased almost 200 acres that was supposed to become a housing project and turned it into 4 million square feet of industrial space. Target, which has a new 3.2 million-square-foot distribution center on the north end, is looking to expand by up to 400,000 square feet.

Instead of developing almost 4,000 homes along the 210 Freeway as part of the 1,500-acre Renaissance Rialto, 2,000 of those homes will become industrial development.

City Councilman Ed Scott, a member of the city's economic development committee, warns he won't vote to approve Renaissance if all the industrial space planned becomes low-paying distribution centers.

"I think with the size of the property up there, we can be sort of selective of what can come in up there," he said.

Before the housing market fell off, Garcia said he wanted Panattoni to be the last big-box project on the south end. He said there had to be a limit to the number of trucks in the area. That hope certainly won't be fulfilled. The Oakmont project will be many times larger than Panattoni's.

"I think my general concern is still that we're looking for that balance between industry and quality of life in terms of truck traffic," he said.

Garcia said trucks can be restricted to certain routes so they won't affect the interior of the city too significantly.

"You know, our market data has always said this community needs jobs," he said.

Rialto has a ratio of 0.8 jobs to each home, Steel said. He wants to boost that figure to 1.25 jobs per home - something that will be a lot easier with the new industrial plans and the change in Renaissance.

In San Bernardino and Riverside counties, salaries in the distribution sector average about $40,000 annually, said Redlands- based economist John Husing.

In November, voters in Redlands approved a distribution-center tax of 3.5 cents per square foot. That will rake in $245,000 a year.

Garcia said he may analyze the economics of a distribution tax in Rialto, but he said he suspects it wouldn't generate much money.

Steel said the city's utility tax brings in a lot of money from distribution centers because of their high utility bills.

The trend of building more giant distribution centers might be coming to an end.

The city is already running out of land and will feel tight for space within five years.

As developers slow their building of huge centers, they might look to smaller ones and even some small manufacturing centers, Husing said. If the western portion of San Bernardino, which is running out of industrial space, is a guide, office space will be the next trend, he said.

Staff writer Matt Wrye contributed to this report.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

One Perchlorate Issue May be Near End (Daily Bulletin December 20, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective

It seems that the County Claims that they have Just $15Million in Legal fees & Clean up Paid dedicated to Perchlorate clean up, but what this writer was wondering was that the City of Rialto has over $23 Million in Legal Fees and Clean Up Dedicated to Perchlorate, now how can a small City like Rialto have almost double the money in the clean up then the Largest County in the Continental United States? Is the City of Rialto's Attorney adding his fees a little to the heavy side in his favor? That is what I constantly wonder? Because Rialto has double and in some cases triple spent what most cities have had to spend to clean up this contaminant such as Perchlorate.

BS Ranch

One perchlorate issue may be near end
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - A multimillion-dollar legal drama between the city and San Bernardino County over who is responsible for a toxic underground plume may be nearing an end.

The sides appear close to an agreement that would settle the city's lawsuits against the county, according to sources familiar with the situation.

"I'm expecting good results. I really am," said Rialto Councilwoman Winnie Hanson, a member of the council's perchlorate committee.

The city and county are wrangling over the extent of the county's role in the contamination.

A federal lawsuit filed by the city against the county and dozens of other parties won't go to trial until October 2008 at the earliest. If a settlement is reached, the suit still will go to trial, but the portion of it involving the county would be settled.

In a second suit filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court, the city alleges the county expanded a landfill in violation of a 1998 agreement made when the county was expanding the Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill. The settlement would put an end to that lawsuit.

The county is one of dozens of parties Rialto says are responsible for perchlorate contaminating local drinking water.

In 1997, the county purchased property to expand the landfill, which is contaminated with perchlorate, a toxic industrial chemical. Rialto says the work done on the property after the expansion caused the contamination to spread.

Perchlorate is used to

produce explosives and can harm humans by interfering with the thyroid gland.

Earlier in the week, Councilman Ed Scott sounded a more pessimistic note about the settlement. He had been saying for weeks the two sides would reach a settlement by Thursday.

At Tuesday night's council meeting and then again by phone on Wednesday, Scott said a settlement agreement between the two sides died somewhere on the county's end.

"We were assured that we would have something in place by the 20th so we could have some good news for our citizens," Scott said.

But county officials say work on a settlement is still moving forward.

"The county's lawyers are working on the settlement with the city's lawyers and our insurance company," Bob Page, 5th District Supervisor Josie Gonzales' chief of staff, wrote in an e-mail.

Gonzales' district includes Rialto.

Last year, a tentative settlement called for the county to pay the city roughly $6 million in exchange for the city dropping charges against the county, but the two sides could never agree on specifics.

Meanwhile, Rialto and the county are continuing to rack up legal bills fighting each other.

At its meeting Tuesday, the county's Board of Supervisors approved spending $400,000 in additional legal services related to perchlorate. Much of that money will go to investigate the extent of pollution, not just to lawyers.

To date, the county has spent $2.2 million on legal fees and $15 million for investigation and treatment, said county spokesman David Wert.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

City Seeks Superfund (SB Sun December 4, 2007) Rialto Files Petition for EPA Perchlorate-Cleanup Help

BS Ranch Perspective

Rialto should have set off to looked at petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency for  Clean-up assistance at the get-go when this whole thing started, But instead, The City Father's (City Council) had to listen to the City's Hired Attorney for advice, the same Attorney whom all he could see was dollar ($$) Signs for his pockets. Mr Owen figured that it would be a simple open and closed case and he would pocket a cool million in the process. What Mr. Owen didn't think would happen was that there would be an actual fight on his hands by the businesses that may or may not be responsible for the contamination of the Water supply.  To Date the City of Rialto has spent a total of upwards of $23+ Million Dollars and the Company has been fighting it all the way.

Any way that we look at it, they might have been within their Rights at that time to have Disposed of the Perchlorate the way that they did back then!! Mr. Owen in his desperation to fill his pocket with Green, has made a desperate Miscalculation by wanting to fight the companies with whom probably purchased smaller companies of companies which disposed of the Perchlorate the way that they did in back in the day!! Mr. Owen still is filling his pocket, and it is being filled more then he wanted with no end in sight, and now that he wants it to end, he cannot just end it with a Vote to go to the EPA, because the EPA will not take the "case" when it has an active case on the situation So, now Mr Owen has to Petition the Environmental Protection Agency to step in to review the case again, now that they are at a stand still in court due to the whole situation regarding the whole situation. 

I mean the situation is this, Now that it is tied up in court NOBODY wants to touch it!! Nobody, not the EPA, not the Court, nobody, so we will see what happens with the EPA Again!!

We will have to wait and see what happens again!!!

BS Ranch


City seeks Superfund
Rialto files petition for EPA perchlorate-cleanup help
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The City Council has unanimously endorsed a move to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to list a 160-acre industrial tract in the city's northern fringe as a Superfund site.

"It has become very apparent that we need to seek all the help and assistance that we can," said Councilman Ed Scott, immediately prior to the 5-0 vote Tuesday evening.

Even an EPA official who attended the meeting seemed to offer a premature vote of support to the city's efforts to attain the vaunted Superfund listing.

"I think we, like others, started to become concerned last year when the state's process began to get bogged down," said Wayne Praskins, Superfund project manager with the EPA.

The packed Council Chambers burst into applause following the vote.

Superfund is the federal government's hazardous waste cleanup program.

A chunk of the city's northern edge during World War II was a military storage facility and continues to be used as an industrial site.

The chief contaminant, perchlorate, was discovered in 1997 in Rialto.

Perchlorate is used to produce explosives, such as fireworks and rocket fuel. The perchlorate is flowing underground through much of the city in a plume that continues to grow.

In humans, perchlorate can interfere with the thyroid gland, which is necessary for regulating metabolism and development of the central nervous system.

The council-endorsed resolution petitions the EPA to designate a 160-acre area, bounded by Casa Grande Drive on the north and Locust Avenue on the east, as part of a Superfund site.

The resolution also asks the EPA to consider areas surrounding the source area as part of the possible Superfund site.

Numerous source areas of the perchlorate have been identified.

One of those areas is southwest of the 160-acre site and is being cleaned up by San Bernardino County under order from a state agency.

Praskins recently said state and federal environment officials will ask some of the parties accused of contaminating the area to begin doing investigative work at the source of the contamination.

Over the years, city officials have strongly opposed going the Superfund route and put their faith in state regulatory bodies and an upcoming federal lawsuit against dozens of parties. But the suspected polluters have used their lawyers' mastery of jurisprudence to befuddle state regulators and halt the regulatory process.

The State Water Resources Control Board was supposed to hold hearings to see if three companies - Goodrich, Black & Decker and Pyro Spectaculars - should pay to clean up the contamination, but a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge stopped those hearings from moving forward until questions about the fairness of the process could be settled.

The council has also faced scrutiny after it was reported that the city has spent about $20 million on investigations, litigation, treatment and other costs because of the perchlorate.

Praskins said the earliest an announcement on whether Rialto could get added to the Superfund list is sometime in late 2008.

The suspected polluters have complained that the state regulatory process is biased and unfair, prompting them to challenge it in court. EPA's process may be more difficult to challenge because federal courts can award significant penalties to parties that do not comply with EPA orders.