Developer of Controversial Trucking Center to Scale Back Plans

Aiming to quell community concern, the company behind a controversial 33-acre trucking and distribution center on the Los Alamitos-Cypress border plans to cut the number truck bays at the planned site, a spokesman said.

Industrial developer Prologis will to drop some of the 129 truck bays originally proposed for the planned facility at Katella Avenue and Enterprise Drive in Cypress, according to Atle Erlingsson, vice president of Prologis corporate communications.

 “Our ultimate goals here is to develop a property that’s welcomed,” said Erlingsson, who announced the company's new proposal Monday. Erlingsson said it was in response to community feedback.

“We’re looking to make a considerable decrease in the number of truck bays,” he said.

Erlingsson said it would be several weeks before he would know the exact number of truck bays would decrease.

The project has been a contentious issue for a number of residents in Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and Cypress, who say the plan would intensify traffic, damage streets and increase pollution posing health risks, especially for children. 

Erlingsson said that the facility would be a boon to the local business community and would be LEED certified. He added there was much misinformation about the project, including its economic, social and environmental impacts and even the projects description: it’s a distribution center, he said, and not a truck depot.

“We should point back to our track record,” Erlingsson said.”(We build) all high-quality, class-A facilities. We only build the best of the best.”

Recently the Los Alamitos City Council voted 5-0 to oppose the development. Officials, also told the city manager and the city attorney to begin “taking actions to protect the city" from the proposed development.

Cypress officials did not respond to calls for comment Monday afternoon.

Los Alamitos Councilman Richard Murphy said didn’t he know if the proposed change in the site plan would change his opposition to the project.

“It would have to be a dramatic decrease,” Murphy said. “(And) I’m not sure that that (Prologis statement about truck bays) gives us any guarantee of reduction in the amount of trucks going in.”

Murphy said he wants more information, which won’t be forthcoming until Cypress releases the results of its report on the possible effects of the project on the surrounding community.

“We’re going to wait and see until the environmental impact report comes out,” Murphy said. “I imagine when that comes out, there’s going to be feathers flying everywhere.”

The Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association has opposed the plan as well as a number of people at a recent scoping meeting and commenters during a recent Cypress City Council meeting.

Lois Waddle, a resident of Los Alamitos’ Carrier Row just across the street from the planned facility, is one of the activists protesting the project.

To the 40-year Los Alamitos local even one truck bay is too many.

“No trucks. No commercial trucking. No bays,” said Waddle, a retired realtor and teacher.

Waddle, who hopes Cypress will turn the area into a park with recreation or community centers, said she doesn’t want to see the traffic, pollution and noise the project would generate.

“I just can’t see that they would intentionally destroy this land when it could be something so beautiful,” Waddle said.

She said that locals can check out more about protests against the project at OC4us.com.

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