Permits to Be Required for New Warehouses

After three months of temporary measures, the City Council has given final approval to a law governing warehouses.

The new ordinance requires warehouses and other distribution facilities in the city to obtain a special permit before they begin operating. The council thus can hear the specifics proposed for each building’s use before it opens.

The council on June 4 adopted an urgency ordinance that put a moratorium on any warehouses, pending further study. That study resulted in the new law, designed to ensure that noise and traffic problems are not created by warehouse operations.

City Manager Daniel E. Keen said the law can be used to control how many distribution businesses move into La Palma.

He told the council that the city had received inquiries from firms seeking to establish large trucking and distribution facilities in the city’s industrially zoned area.