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Stanislaus development has Tracy implications.
 Crows Landing Air Facility / Courtesy photo
No other project has riled West Side residents in the past several decades as much as this proposed industrial center, and here in Tracy, we’ve been watching from the sidelines. But this is a project with huge implications for us, too.
PCCP West Park’s 7.5-square-mile project is larger than the city of Patterson, and its inland port eventually would accept six trains a day from the Port of Oakland, where loads of container shipments would leave and return.
Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos — a familiar name here, because he also plans to build 2,300 homes in Mountain House — promises to build a hospital, job training center and water and sewer facilities in Crows Landing. A study he commissioned predicts the project would generate 3,000 construction jobs and 34,000 jobs on the site at build-out in 35 years.
If fully realized, the West Park plan would also connect Tracy to the Port of Oakland through short-haul rail, and the Crows Landing site would provide a hub for the trucking industry.
Still, impacts of the project are not completely known, and there’s been enough spin on both sides of the debate to keep truth-seekers dizzy. That’s why it’s imperative that supervisors wait until the environmental review process is complete before entering into anything binding with the master developer.
Certainly, more work must be done to determine whether this is a good match for the West Side as the region changes in future years. It is also important to know specifically what water sources will be used and what contingency plans will be in place if conveyance systems are shut down because of problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The project must not take water away from nearby cities and local farmers.
Local air quality impacts and potential health concerns also must be considered. Some say that traffic and air quality over the Altamont would actually improve, because the trains would take trucks off the highway. The environmental report will address these issues in detail.
Finally, impacts from trains must be clearly understood. Patterson residents are concerned about trains in their downtown and the potential for blocked access for emergency vehicles. We could also find slowdowns from the trains on Tracy-area roads like MacArthur Drive and Chrisman and Corral Hollow roads.
This region is short on jobs and long on commuters, and a modern, transportation-based business park in our midst could be a godsend to our economic future. But Stanislaus County officials must continually hold West Park’s feet to the fire. Residents in the region need a scope of the entire picture, and the experts need to have a closer look at a project that could have a monumental impact on Northern California and, specifically, Tracy and the West Side.
The issue
• A proposed 4,800-acre business and industrial development 30 miles southwest of Tracy.
Our position
• We need to watch this project — and the environmental reports to come — because it proposes to be a valley hub that would link a short-haul rail line from the Port of Oakland to Crows Landing. It could have a monumental impact on this area.
Your stand
• We want to hear what you have to say. Share your thoughts here. Letters to the editor may also be e-mailed, mailed, dropped off or submitted online.
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Nope, not at all. Just another plight for the red-speckeled toad.
Right blinker?
No on garamender!