California is on the verge of revising a first-of-its-kind rule touted to increase the state’s regulation of warehouses. The rule revision covers truck routes into warehouses.
A year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill to regulate warehousing and trucking activity. The rule is intended to reduce emission and benefit community health.
Advocates have said the new law is necessary to address the boom in warehouse development in the state. The boom is attributed to the growth of e-commerce and consumer expectations for rapid shipping.
They’ve added that studies have correlated the presence of warehouses with negative health effects on nearby communities. Truck traffic associated with warehouses is described as the primary factor.
Guardrails described as necessary
The rules apply to the logistics industry statewide. However, the focus is on California’s Inland Empire. This region east of Los Angeles is an urban and metropolitan area centered on the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino.
Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes, D-Colton, said there are more than 4,000 individual warehouses occupying about 1 billion square feet in the Inland Empire. She added that nearly 600,000 truck trips per day are generated by the warehouses.
“Without proper guardrails and a framework for logistics development, this problem in the Inland Empire could be replicated in other parts of the state,” Reyes stated.
2024 law
Key provisions adopted by state lawmakers a year ago include establishment of buffer zones between warehouses and “sensitive areas.” Affected areas include homes, schools and daycare centers.
Also covered is establishment of truck routes that avoid residential areas.
A minimum setback between a sensitive area and the dock bay of a warehouse is required. Requirements are also in place that warehouses be built with current building standards.
Standards include investments in renewable energy, a buffer of up to 100 feet around the facility and a prohibition on the dock bay being adjacent to any “sensitive receptor.”
Reyes said the law “strikes a delicate balance” that puts in place a higher standard for logistic development near sensitive areas.
Truck routes
Also included in the 2024 law is a requirement for local governments to create a truck routing plan to and from the state highway system.
Truck routes must be updated throughout the state to reduce truck idling and prevent truck routes from cutting through residential areas. Local governments are required to maximize the use of interstate or state divided highways as preferred routes for trucks.
Truck loading bays must be at least 500 feet from the property line of the nearest sensitive area to the nearest truck loading bay. A separate entrance for heavy-duty trucks must be accessible “via a truck route, arterial road, major thoroughfare or a local road that predominantly serves commercial oriented uses.”
Revisions pursued prior to effective date
The warehouse rule revisions adopted a year ago will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. Since the rule changes were adopted, critics of them have called on bill sponsors to revisit the issue.
Reyes and Assembly member Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale, responded by introducing legislation to “clean up” multiple issues.
At a bill hearing, Carrillo described the 2024 law as “striking a delicate balance between improving the quality of life of communities impacted by the booming logistics industry, while allowing the industry enough flexibility to continue to thrive and bring jobs to California.”
He added that more work needs to be done.
The Legislature acted this month to narrow the definition of “logistics use” to be a building that is primarily used as a warehouse for the movement or storage of cargo, goods or products. Agricultural buildings that are operated fewer than 90 consecutive days per year are excluded.
Another revision covers cities and counties outside the Inland Empire. Such locales have a January 2028 deadline to update their truck routes.
Cities with a population up to 50,000 or counties with a population up to 100,000 in their unincorporated area will have implementation delayed until 2035.
Carrillo said the change provides more time for small-population counties to update their truck routes.
Additionally, the attorney general will be given discretion to work with local governments that are working in “good faith” to comply with the 2024 law, Carrillo added.
Truck route revisions
Two more revisions to the warehouse rules cover truck routing.
Cities and counties have said that updating truck routes would be a challenge and would result in numerous other laws requiring changes to their general plans.
Instead, SB415 permits local governments to adopt an ordinance to address truck routing.
The other revision addresses a requirement to provide a separate entrance for heavy-duty trucks.
A clarification was added that an affected entrance could include a lane dedicated to heavy-duty trucks and a lane dedicated for other vehicles.
The bill is on the governor’s desk. LL
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