BS Ranch Perspective:
I am still one that is against this plan, since the airport has been here for so long, and is something that is unique to the city, that San Bernardino is only now getting, and Rialto is giving that up to them, just to have what every other city has!! A Shopping Center, and more housing!
I Agree that housing and business brings in more Tax money that the city can use to pay towards more jobs and higher pay to the existing jobs that are currently in the city, which is something that is good, but Rialto has not had such a great history with a speedy plan for expansion!!
I believe that in the Current Housing Market, that if and when the Airport is closed, and then the City of Rialto has to Pay for the Moving of The Current Businesses at the Airport to Move to San Bernardino, that also Includes the San Bernardino Sheriffs Aviation, and Mercy Air, Both of which have been housed at Rialto Airport since they started, because of the central Location to the South/West County Area, or Inland Empire!
It is only right to keep them in the central area, so that they don't' have to ruin their response time to calls that they currently have to Ontario, Chino and the High Desert. However it is noted that the High Desert Calls to Victorville and Apple Valley will not increase or decrease that much since San Bernardino Airport is just two to three miles to the South of Rialto Airports current location!!, therefore it would only add a couple of minutes to the call for service. But the Far West end of Ontario can make a bit of difference from San Bernardino Airport, since they would take off and then have to fly back over the Airport in which they took off to begin with to get to Ontario. I completely forgot the Copter that takes off for the city of Fontana Police Department and is currently housed at Rialto Airport. They will suffer a great deal of call for service loss of time since they would either have to find a place in their city to have a helicopters-pad in order to gas and keep the copter during their shift for quicker response time! However other then that, I believe out of all the people that have a heliport at Rialto Airport the one that would be the most angry about the move would be Fontana Police Agency!! It would be awful for them the most, for the calls for service that they would have to wait for their copter that was usually a four minute wait is now a seven to ten minute wait!!
San Bernardino Sheriff's Departments Central Patrol will be effected a little by the move, but the move will cost the Sheriff Department a whole bunch, by having to move their whole equipment hangers to the new facilities that will have to be built, provided that the Sheriff's Department Built the current Hanger that they are currently houses there several fixed wing aircrafts, along with their Helicopters.
The City of Rialto will not see a great deal of moving on the build up, since they didn't take any opportunity to allow businesses to build on the Newly Made Easton Ave. (I-210 Business Route). This so called Business Route is not so much of a business route since there has not been any, None of the Businesses that have build opened or started to sell anything to anyone. Even when the Freeway was under construction! Now Rialto if they were a Smart City they would have done like that of their Counter Part, Fontana, and sold Business Construction Permits to businesses that wanted to build on Easton Ave, at the Intersections like Ayala, Alder, Cactus, or even any of the stretches between that could have had some Car lots like that of Fontana.
Maybe Rialto could have had some Hotels or Restaurants built! But they didn't' they want to close a land mark like the Airport, and put it all in one small area of the city and call it a huge expansion with housing business, and well a little of everything!! Everything but, an Airport!!
BS Ranch
City looking for spark in Renaissance Rialto plan
Article Created: 06/10/2008 09:12:19 PM PDT
RIALTO - Work to close the city's airport to make way for an ambitious development project could be months away, unless the City Council wants to rethink the plan.
In recent weeks, city officials have completed negotiations with a number of government agencies so the city can turn the Rialto Municipal Airport into the Renaissance Rialto development project.
The next step is to complete the plans and send them to the City Council - something that probably won't happen until the fall or end of the year.
But now there are murmurs that the plans need an extra spark.
"I'm convinced that the smart thing to do is to make Rialto a destination spot," said City Councilman Ed Scott. He mentioned the California Speedway in Fontana and the new stadium in Ontario as examples of regional draws.
The airport sits in the heart of what city officials and a development partnership between the Upland-based Lewis Group and Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood want to turn into Renaissance Rialto.
The latest plans for the project include shopping, about 2,000 homes, a school, parks and industrial and office space. A SuperTarget would anchor the retail center.
"We're going to need at some point to be very clear on what we're trying to accomplish," said City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson.
She said she is a fan of transit-oriented development and might want to bring an educational institution specializing in local concerns like
transportation and logistics, environmental issues or language to the city.
"I think we all are looking for the ideal draw," she said.
A regional draw could be a good idea as long as it complements other landmarks, like the Speedway, said City Councilwoman Winnie Hanson.
"I'm interested. I think it's a great thing to explore," she said.
Hanson said she doubted altering the project would delay it.
Approving the plan is important so the developers can start purchasing the airport property from Rialto and fronting money to relocate the tenants. Many tenants also won't sign on to fill the shopping area until a project has been passed.
The airport probably won't be closed for two more years because new facilities have to be built for the tenants before they can leave Rialto. Money to do that will initially come from the developers once a project is approved.
In the past few weeks, the city and the Federal Aviation Administration formally agreed on the value of the airport land and Caltrans officials agreed to give Rialto access to property the city needs to build Renaissance.
Federal legislation passed in 2005 allowed the city to close the airport with the condition that it had to pay 45percent of the value of the airport property to San Bernardino International Airport, which will receive many of Rialto's tenants.
Rialto has also submitted an airport closure plan to the FAA.
"I don't think we have any issues with this plan," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.
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