The City has approved an adjacent development seemingly as part of the 65-acre Goodman Logistics Center (GLC) located on the block bound by Acacia Ave., Orangethorpe Ave, State College Blvd., and Kimberly Ave. KimberlyClark manufactured paper products on the site before closing in 2020. In 2021, in the process of building four large distribution warehouses, GLC demolished all of the Kimberly-Clark structures, and bulldozed over 10 acres of mature pines, heirloom pecans, persimmons, avocados, and citrus trees that were home to a substantial population of birds and other wildlife.

The additional site is at 1201-1223 South State College Blvd., just south of the main GLC project, and is occupied by a nearly 25,000 square foot industrial building. The 12-unit building housed several commercial tenants who had to relocate their businesses when GLC purchased the property for approximately $5 million. Several of the business owners have had difficulty finding affordable replacement locations, and have had to move out of Fullerton.

Recent demolition on the additional Goodman Logistics site. Photo by Matthew Leslie

GLC plans to use the new site for “overflow truck trailer parking for the previously approved Goodman Logistics Center Fullerton Project,” according to a March 17 memorandum prepared by Fullerton Associate Planner Edgardo Caldera. The memorandum notes that the new site was not part of the original project’s approval.

The parking overflow site was approved by the City’s Zoning Administrator, Greg Pfost, who also serves as Fullerton’s Interim Director of Community and Economic Development. The Director of Community and Economic Development is allowed to approve Minor Site Plans, while Major Site Plans are heard by the City’s Planning Commission.

Local community activist Jane Reifer has filed an appeal of the recent truck parking overflow approval, claiming that the project should have gone before the city’s full Planning Commission instead of being approved solely by the Zoning Administrator. Reifer disputes that the new project qualified for a Minor Site Plan review, citing Chapter 15.47 of the Fullerton Municipal Code that provides guidelines for differentiating between a Minor or a Major Site Plan. She contends that the review should have been considered as a Major Site Plan, and as a new project with its own environmental analysis and Planning Commission approval.

In her correspondence to Pfost objecting to the Minor Site Plan determination, Reifer also notes that the new State College driveways should be evaluated, that the proposed 14 foot high screening walls are a decision that should have been reviewed through a Major Site Plan, that the accompanying Environmental Impact Report Addendum did not properly cover both the original as well as the new project, that the presence of toxic substances on the new site was not properly discussed, and that 7 of the 8 referenced appendices were not included.

The appeal has been forwarded to the City Attorney’s office, which will determine if the issue should have originally gone to the Planning Commission instead of the Zoning Administrator. If that is the case, the City will void the Zoning Administrator approval and bring it before the Planning Commission directly. If it is not the case, the appeal will be heard before the Planning Commission.

“Goodman Logistics skirted important air quality and environmental issues with its initial warehouse project,” said Reifer. “This time, the City should pay closer attention to the details that negatively impact Fullerton residents, businesses and city infrastructure.”

It is unclear which businesses will be moving into the GLC. Goodman sites are often leased to Amazon for warehousing and local deliveries, but at this time there is no confirmation that Amazon will be leasing space in Fullerton.