Logistics Sprawl and Urban Freight Planning Issues in a Major Gateway City - Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods and Information Systems - page 65

to six major corporations, and there are several other projects approved or soon to
be constructed in the area. In the south, an incorporated industrial area on the site
of an abandoned navy base has been developed for logistics. Walgreens' regional
DC has been located there for ten years. Many construction projects are currently
under way in the area, with 3.6 million square feet in building plan check,
3.5 million approved/entitled, and 3.1 million currently undergoing environmental
impact reviews. A third, more recent, logistics area is located in the eastern part of
Moreno Valley, in a more protected residential area. The first distribution center
there was built for Skechers, a sport shoes retailer, and, with a single building
covering 1.9 million square feet, is now one of the largest warehouses in Cali-
fornia (see photos in Fig. 1 ). Building the Skechers warehouse generated oppo-
sition and litigation, which was settled in exchange for environmental
improvements to the project (such as solar panels on the roof). Still further east in
Moreno Valley, a vast area is targeted for future logistics development, with a
developer's

project for a 41 million square foot ''World Logistics Center'',

enthusiastically supported by the municipality.
Warehousing jobs represent the highest paid blue collar jobs in the Inland
Empire, even though ''they are not the best jobs in the world'' (J. Terrell, Planning
Official). Some, but not all, companies will provide medical benefits, especially
those that organize their own distribution centers. Cities know that warehousing
activities do not provide a lot of jobs compared with a traditional manufacturing
activity. The Skechers warehouse requires 30 jobs per hectare (550 employees for
1.8 million square feet). Warehouses provide revenues in terms of property tax,
and in some rare instances some sales tax (when wholesaling activities are also
done in the warehouse).
The city has recently established another standard, soon to be included in the
city code: an amount of renewably-sourced energy that is equivalent to that used
in the building's office areas must be purchased or produced locally.
Because of past litigation, present-day logistics development projects are better
prepared and more environmentally-friendly. Most of them are LEED certified 16
even when this is not yet a city requirement. Many of the projects for new freight
facilities are the subject of litigation but they usually prevail, with better design
and more environmentally-friendly features.
The city of Moreno Valley has landscaping standards that apply to freight
facilities. The objective is to do away with the impression of being surrounded by
big boxes. Recently, there has been a noticeable effort on the part of logistics
developers regarding colors and shapes. In the case of the Skechers' distribution
center, a famous architecture firm was hired to design the facility, resulting in an
original all-white building (see first two photos in Fig. 1 ).

16 LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A set of standards for the design of
green buildings.