The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is being sued by a company that alleges it was taken by surprise by the findings of an environmental impact report for a proposed light rail line that threatens the firm’s modern, environmentally updated cold storage facility in South Gate.
Konoike-Pacific California Inc.’s Los Angeles Superior Court petition asks a judge to set aside Metro’s approval of the project and certification of the environmental impact report and order another EIR that complies with the California Environmental Quality Act. The company also seeks attorneys’ fees.
A Metro spokesman said Wednesday the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The KPAC property is located near the Pasadena (710) Freeway, west of the Los Angeles River and immediately adjacent to and east of the existing railroad where the Southeast Gateway Line will be built. The KPAC building was built in 2017 for $28 million and is one of the few cold storage warehouses in Southland and possibly the most modern and environmentally sound, the petition filed Tuesday states.
The KPAC facility serves as a critical logistics and distribution hub for goods and materials from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, the petition states.
“Without the KPAC Facility, KPAC’s customers would be forced to use other, older, less environmentally friendly cold storage warehouses that are located further away, resulting in significant adverse economic and environmental impacts,” according to the petition.
The city of South Gate’s current Municipal Code prohibits new industrial warehouses of more than 15,000 square feet, so the 82,180-square-foot KPAC facility could not be relocated within the city, according to the petition.
The Southeast Gateway Line is a proposed new light rail transit line that would extend about 14 1/2 miles from southern Artesia to the Slauson A Line Station. There will be nine stations and a new maintenance and storage facility.
After publishing the Draft EIR, Metro made “numerous and extensive” changes to the rail project, but did not disclose them to KPAC or the public until the agency published its final EIR on March 29, the petition states.
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“Instead of a temporary construction easement along the edge of the KPAC property as identified in the Draft EIR, Metro decided to acquire the entire KPAC property for use as a construction staging and laydown area,” the petition alleges.
Metro’s full acquisition of the KPAC land will bring about the closure and removal of the company’s facility, the petition states. KPAC Facility.
“The final EIR discloses that Metro made this change to the project in coordination with Union Pacific Railroad, solely to provide a private benefit requested by Union Pacific Railroad, according to the petition, which does not state the nature of the alleged benefit to UP.
