Group files suit against Crows Landing logistics development
A local resident group in the California Central Valley filed suit last week over development of a major logistics center near Crows Landing, and project proponents were quick to dismiss the merits of the case, according to the Modesto Bee.
WS-PACE.org, a group formed to oppose the proposed 4,800-acre West Park rail and logistics center, filed the lawsuit in Stanislaus County Superior Court naming Stanislaus County, the Board of Supervisors, the county redevelopment agency, project developer PCCP West Park and Union Pacific Railroad.
Mirroring a similar argument brought forth in a lawsuit filed by the City of Patterson this summer, the WS-PACE.org lawsuit alleges that the development should have received a California Environmental Quality Act environmental impact review prior to the April 22 approval of a memorandum of understanding by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors with PCCP West Park.
The CEQA review, required under state law, is under way.
Stanislaus County Counsel John Doering, according to the newspaper, called the WS-PACE.org lawsuit 'premature and unfounded.' He also questioned why the group filed its own lawsuit instead of joining the Patterson suit. County officials, according to the paper, believe the MOU to move forward with the Crow Landing project did not require the CEQA review.
Doering told the paper that a motion to dismiss the Patterson suit has been filed and will be heard on Nov. 6.
Patterson officials, believing they could not get a fair trial in Stanislaus County, were granted a change of venue to Fresno County Superior Court, Doering told the paper.
WS-PACE.org president Ron Swift told the Modesto Bee that the two lawsuits were not working together against the project and the WS-PACE.org lawsuit differs in some details from the Patterson’s lawsuit.