Rialto council approves Locust Gateway warehouse, secures $4 million community benefit

Rialto’s City Council on a unanimous vote approved entitlements for the Locust Gateway Development Project, clearing the way for a 664,859‑square‑foot industrial warehouse on roughly 38.8 net acres within the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.

Daniel Casey, the city’s community development manager, told the council the project proposes 657,146 square feet of storage, about 7,700 square feet of office space, 82 loading docks, space for up to 480 truck trailers in screened truck courts and 365 passenger vehicle stalls. The developer also filed a tentative parcel map and will dedicate street frontage so the final parcel would be approximately 38.78 net acres.

The project’s environmental impact report, prepared by Kimley‑Horn & Associates and peer‑reviewed by ECCO Tierra Consulting, identified significant and unavoidable greenhouse gas impacts. Casey summarized the staff recommendation to adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations, saying the council should weigh those impacts against benefits including redevelopment of a vacant site, on‑site renewable energy, and job creation. Staff estimated the project could generate up to 550 permanent jobs and recommended mitigation measures and traffic improvements identified in the EIR and traffic study.

Labor leaders and community groups addressed the council during the public hearing and urged approval. Julie Liu of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters and representatives from Ironworkers and other trades praised the project’s commitments to local hiring, apprenticeship opportunities and executed labor agreements. Louie Lopez, a business agent for Ironworkers Local 433, said the project provides “on the job training” and apprenticeship work needed in the region.

As part of the development agreement introduced to the council, the developer agreed to a $4,000,000 monetary contribution to the city. In the motion to approve the entitlements — moved by Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott and carried unanimously — council amended allocation of the community benefit: $1,000,000 was earmarked for public safety purposes (police real‑time crime center and truck enforcement) and the remaining $3,000,000 will be determined by council at a later date. The motion also directed that the fair‑share mitigation fee of approximately $364,699 be reserved and applied specifically to the traffic improvements recommended in the project study rather than deposited into a general development impact account.

Council members asked staff to pursue intersection and queued‑turn improvements identified in the traffic analysis and discussed the long‑term potential of pursuing a dedicated truck exit off Locust Avenue to reduce neighborhood truck traffic. Staff confirmed the developer would repair and resurface Lowell Street and their Locust frontage as part of the project, and that required fees must be paid prior to certificate of occupancy.

The council’s formal motion approved certification of the EIR, the tentative parcel map, the conditional development permit, the precise plan of design, and introduced the ordinance to approve Development Agreement No. 2024‑002 between the City of Rialto and IV5 Locust Gateway Logistics Center, LLC. The ordinance and resolutions passed on unanimous vote.