Overflowing cargo from the Long Beach Port will soon be stored and shipped from a westside Long Beach warehouse, as low-emission logistics company Cargomatic received approval for construction from city council Tuesday night.
The Westside Business Association filed an appeal with the City to decline the conditional use permit for the trucking facility, but was denied by a unanimous vote. Members from the Westside Business Association argued that West Long Beach already suffers from poor air quality and traffic, which will be worsened by more trucks traveling through the neighborhood.
Representatives from Cargomatic said that the company has “accommodated” the association’s concerns by transitioning to “green trucks” before it was a mandate. Residents argued that the trucks are not “green” since most of the trucks are not electric and will still produce emissions, just at a lower rate than the city’s “significant” threshold.
In its report on the facility, Long Beach Development Services cited a Port of Long Beach study that said, “transitioning to clean trucks is the best-known strategy for reducing environmental justice impacts in west Long Beach given that the port and cargo needs are not anticipated to change in the near future.”
Two adjacent vacant sites, one along Harbor Avenue and the other along 17th Street, will be demolished to create the trucking and shipping container facility. The 4.85-acre facility will have 231 stalls for 405 trucks and will be able to remove up to 1,000 boxes from the port within three days to help with congestion.
Westside residents said that traffic is already bad enough along PCH and Harbor Avenue, sometimes taking up to 20 minutes to make a right turn. Mike Lombardy, who runs Dion & Sons, a company that will be adjacent to the facility, said his employees already have a difficult time trying to leave the company driveway and turn onto PCH.
“It’s not a green truck facility… What it really is, is a way to take containers out of the Port of Long Beach and put them in West Long Beach,” said Westside resident Mac Collins. “I have no idea how Long Beach can say that 250 trucks into a two-block area will have no negative impact.”
According to staff reports, the site is estimated to generate 254 vehicle trips a day. This number did not meet the requirement for the city to conduct a full traffic impact analysis, but Cargomatic agreed to one regardless. In response to the association’s concerns, Cargomatic has also agreed that the driveway onto PCH can only be used by emergency vehicles and to not transport overweight cargo through the site.
“It’s not very often developers like these go out of their way to include union labor, and we appreciate their continued consideration for the highest level of skilled and trained workers like my union brothers here tonight.”
Anand Atletas with the Laborers International Union of North America.
The company also agreed to include the maximum amount of solar panels possible, to include signage for residents with the company’s contact information along the fences during construction in case of issues and to use electric lawn and power equipment during construction to decrease the pollution caused.
“We’ve done these things at a higher cost than many people would be willing to do and we wanted to do that so we can leave a legacy, and not only have a model project for the city but attach conditions that make that generational moving forward,” a representative from Cargomatic said. “We wanted to give the city the opportunity to say that this is what logistics development should look like in Long Beach.”
Members of the multiple labor unions showed up to the city council chambers to voice their support for the project and the amount of jobs it will provide for Long Beach residents. Another condition Cargomatic agreed to is to make their “best efforts” to employ locally and provide internships through Pacific Gateway Workforce, a hiring agency that serves Long Beach and Signal Hill.
They also cited the community impact that Cargomatic has had with their years of supporting the Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach.
“Projects like this allow apprentices like myself the opportunity to receive on-the-job training close to home, as well as unique skills, wages and benefits to provide for my family,” said Anand Atletas with the Laborers International Union of North America. “It’s not very often developers like these go out of their way to include union labor, and we appreciate their continued consideration for the highest level of skilled and trained workers like my union brothers here tonight.”
The site will operate from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with eight to 12 employees. The trucking and shipping facility was approved unanimously by the city council.
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