Schematic illustration shows the outline of an Amazon warehouse and two parking lots just off the freeway by the airport in McKinleyville. | Images via Humboldt County.

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PREVIOUSLY

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Press release from MNG Partners, Inc.:

McKINLEYVILLE, Calif. — Panattoni Development Company today announced that Humboldt County has circulated the Notice of Preparation (NOP) of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and accompanying notice of a public scoping meeting regarding Project McKinley. The scoping meeting provides the opportunity for interested parties to provide input on the scope and content of the EIR. 

Prepared as part of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process, the Notice of Preparation scoping process helps define the scope of the forthcoming Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The Final EIR will provide a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed project’s potential environmental impacts and include written responses to environmental comments.

Prepared by independent environmental consultants and submitted to Humboldt County, the EIR and associated technical reports will evaluate a wide range of environmental topics, including but not limited to traffic, cultural resources, geology, hydrology, and biological resources, and identifies potentially significant environmental impacts. 

“Transparency is an essential part of the environmental review process,” said a spokesperson for Panattoni Development Company. “We encourage community members to review the findings, ask questions, and participate in the public review process. CEQA is designed to ensure projects receive thorough environmental analysis and public input before decisions are made.” 

The proposed development would be located within the Airport Business Park in McKinleyville and consists of a 40,290-square-foot industrial facility and associated fleet van parking on approximately 9.26 acres. 

Project Details 

The proposed project is significantly smaller than development already planned for the site.  

The Airport Business Park master plan allows for up to approximately 141,000 square feet of development on the property. Project McKinley proposes a 40,290-square-foot facility, which is smaller in scale than the development intensity previously contemplated and evaluated for the site.  

Projected traffic remains substantially below previously analyzed levels. 

Environmental review conducted for the Airport Business Park anticipated approximately 982 daily vehicle trips for the approximately 9.26 acre property. The proposed project is expected to generate approximately 542 daily trips, about 45 percent fewer than the level previously forecast. However, additional transportation impact analyses will be provided in the forthcoming Draft EIR.  

More than double the open space and landscaping required under the master plan.  

While the Airport Business Park master plan requires a minimum of 20 percent landscaping and open space, the proposed project would maintain approximately 43 percent of the site as landscaped and open space areas, more than double the original requirement. 

Net increase in trees across the project site.  

The project would remove 18 existing trees and plant 98 new trees throughout the property, resulting in a net increase of 80 trees. New landscaping would include a mix of native and regionally appropriate tree species, expanded screening along project boundaries, and additional canopy trees throughout parking and open space areas.  

Air quality and health risk analyses remain below established significance thresholds.

Preliminary project modeling analyses found that construction and operational emissions would remain below applicable air quality significance thresholds. Health risk assessments for nearby residents and workers also remained below California’s commonly used significance thresholds. Operational health risk levels were more than 95 percent below established significance thresholds.  

All-electric building design.  

The proposed facility is designed as an all-electric development and would not utilize natural gas service. Additionally, the project is anticipated to exceed California state requirements for EV charging infrastructure with 40 EV-capable parking spaces planned in the employee parking lot. Half of these spaces will be equipped with EV charging stations on day one of operations. 

Located on land already planned and zoned for business park uses.  

The property is zoned Business Park, where warehousing, storage and distribution facilities are principally permitted uses, and development of the subject property has been contemplated in several prior environmental and planning reviews. Specifically, the site has been evaluated through efforts which include, the Airport Business Park Environmental Impact Report, the McKinleyville Community Plan Environmental Impact Report and the Humboldt County General Plan Environmental Impact Report.  


“The technical studies will provide important context about Project McKinley,” said a spokesperson for Panattoni Development Company.

“Preliminary analyses shows the project is significantly smaller than the level of development previously contemplated, would generate fewer daily trips than earlier forecasts anticipated, and includes substantially more landscaping and open space than required under the original business park plan. We believe these facts are important for the community to consider as the environmental review moves forward. The Environmental Impact Report will provide an additional opportunity for detailed analysis and public review of the technical studies.” 

Next Steps 

Consistent with the CEQA process and its standard environmental checklist, project technical studies and preliminary evaluation have identified several environmental topics that warrant additional analysis through the Environmental Impact Report process, including: 

  • Biological Resources 
  • Cultural Resources 
  • Geology and Soils 
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
  • Transportation 

The forthcoming Draft EIR will provide a more detailed evaluation of these topics and will be released for public review and comment, ahead of preparation of the Final EIR and before any approvals are considered by Humboldt County.  

Community members can review project-specific documents as they are released by the County for Public review by visiting Humboldt County’s Major Projects webpage:  https://humboldtgov.org/2347/Major-Projects 

Panattoni encourages all interested stakeholders to review the materials and participate in the public review process. 

About Panattoni 

Development Company Founded in 1986, Panattoni Development Company, Inc. is one of the largest privately held, full-service development companies in the world. Panattoni operates from 69 offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Since inception, Panattoni has developed more than 630 million square feet of space including more than 215 million square feet of build-to-suit projects. For more information visit www.Panattoni.com.