'Good Neighbor Policy' Creates Buffer Between Industrial, Residential Uses

The final version of a "Good Neighbor Policy" adopted by Riverside County in November fell short of the original author's intentions.

2 minute read

December 2, 2019, 2:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Inland Empire

trekandshoot / Shutterstock

Paloma Esquival reports on the effort to approve a "Good Neighbor Policy" that would have required a buffer between large warehouses and residences in Riverside County in Southern California's Inland Empire Region.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors recently approved the "Good Neighbor Policy," but with such significant changes that the policy's original backer voted no on the final produce.

Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries pushed for a policy that would have required a 1,000-foot buffer between warehouses and residential neighborhoods in response to a wave of construction in the region. "In the last decade, more than 150 million square feet of industrial space, the vast majority of it warehouses, has been built in the Inland Empire, according to real estate services company CBRE," writes Esquival.

“We blew it,” [Jeffires] said. “The standards that were adopted are really no standards at all.”

Regulatory constraints on industrial development in Riverside County proved unpopular, as critics of the idea cited the protections of the California Environmental Quality Act and the need for jobs in a region struck particularly hard by the effects of the Great Recession.

Among the concessions granted in the final, approved version of the Good Neighbor Policy: 1) individual supervisors retain the "ability to opt out of the policy in their districts, and 2) "instead of the 1,000-foot buffer that Jeffries had proposed, they adopted a 300-foot buffer, measured from warehouse loading docks to property lines," reports Esquival.

Sunday, December 1, 2019 in Los Angeles Times

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Interior of Place Versailles mall in Montreal, Canada.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units

Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

May 22, 2025 - CBC

Flat modern glass office tower with "County of Santa Clara" sign.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing

The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

May 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

Aerial view of dense urban center with lines indicating smart city concept.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant

A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

May 23 - Governing

Pale yellow Sears kit house with red tile roof in Sylva, North Carolina.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing

Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.

May 23 - The Daily Yonder