County supervisors on Tuesday will vote on a proposed expansion of the Clark Pacific industrial site near Woodland, which, if approved, would create the largest industrial development in unincorporated Yolo County.

Since July 2008, Clark Pacific has been in operation at the old Spreckels Sugar Co. site, where the company manufactures precast parking structures and building systems. Prior to Clark Pacific buying the property, Spreckels had been in operation there from 1937 to 2002.

The proposal before supervisors on Tuesday would allow Clark Pacific to expand their operations from the current 90 acres to 143 acres. The adjacent area of open space buffer would increase from 18 acres to 26 acres. The proposal also would allow for 24-hour operations.

At full build-out, the county estimates the industrial park could employ as many as 1,300 workers and generate up to $120,000 in property taxes every year, in addition to sales and use tax revenue. Clark has said upon the approval of the project, the company would immediately hire 20 new employees.

County staff say the acreage itself has historically been used as an industrial site and has adequate power, water, truck and rail access, highway proximity and appropriate infrastructure. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Yolo County Planning Commission earlier this year, but not without local opposition.

At the June Planning Commission meeting, Jack Kenealy, who represents a six-bed residential nursing home west of the project site, spoke out against the proposal. Kenealy said the expanded industrial site would increase air pollution and noise and negatively impact the nursing home residents.

The county, however, contends the residential care facility is in agriculturally zoned property and is already exposed to typical farm activities like tilling, harvesting and aerial spraying. County staff also said there is a railroad line and a lime warehousing and distribution facility located between the care facility and the project site.

Other neighbors, represented by Davis resident Pam Nieberg, have objected as well. Concerns include the expansion’s impact on Swainson’s hawks and burrowing owls, as well as air pollution and the impact of ongoing lime removal operations, related to Spreckels’ operations at the site.

The proposed 24-hour operation is also an issue.

In a letter to the Planning Commission, Nieberg said, “The argument for 24-hour operations is allegedly to allow Clark Pacific to ‘place them on equal footing with other heavy industrial users in the county.’ ”

However, she said, “One difference here is that Clark Pacific is not located in an already industrialized area. They are in the middle of farm land with several nearby homes and businesses that will be heavily impacted by their expanded operations and operating hours.”

Allowing heavy machinery and trucks to operate around the clock, Nieberg said, would create significant and unavoidable noise and light impacts for the neighbors.

County staff counter that the environmental impact report completed this year adequately dealt with all of the issues raised that relate directly to the proposed expansion.

It’s not the first time Clark Pacific has been opposed locally. Neighbors sued the Board of Supervisors in 2008 over the board’s approval of the original plant. The lawsuit argued that the county failed to properly consider impacts to biological resources, air quality, global warming, traffic and noise. The court ruled in favor of the county in that case.

Supervisors are scheduled to take up the expansion proposal at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers, 625 Court St. in Woodland. The full staff report can be found at http://141.174.195.7/agenda_publish.cfm?dsp=ag&seq=51.

Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include a presentation by the Community Corrections Partnership on public safety realignment. The committee will present its plan for spending $6.1 million in state AB 109 funds aimed at reducing recidivism and alleviating overcrowding in state prisons. AB 109 took effect last fall and calls for felons convicted of nonviolent, nonserious and nonsexual crimes to serve their time in local county jails.

Supervisors also will receive an update on the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and a report on the state of the Port of West Sacramento.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [email protected] or (530) 747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

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