Reynolds Systems Assembly Building 4 (PL-25-291)

BACKGROUND: Reynolds Systems, Inc. (RSI) is a privately owned aerospace and defense manufacturing company that has been in operation since 1962. RSI specializes in the design, fabrication, and production of precision components and systems for the aerospace and defense industries. The main Reynolds System manufacturing facility was built on the portion of land zoned Rural Lands “RL”. In 1983, the Lake County Board of Supervisors issued a Special Zoning Exception “SPE-83-1” to legitimize a manufacturing facility on the “RL” portion of the property. Additionally, in 2023, a Rezone and General Plan Amendment and associated Initial Study/Negative Declaration (RZ/GPA 23-01; IS 23-03) were approved by the Board of Supervisors to rezone other portions of the site from “RL” to Heavy Manufacturing “M2” to support future expansions. The Valley Fire (2015) burned the entire project parcel and 10 buildings on-site. After the fire, RSI worked with the State Department of Agriculture to harvest dead and downed trees. Areas along the internal access roads and RSI facilities were cleared and graded to remove hazardous burned and downed trees. The north access road and portion of the site where the new building is proposed were included in areas that were previously graded and utilized to stage equipment and stock burned and down trees. Prior to the fire, the area where the building is proposed was utilized for equipment and vehicle storage. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: RSI proposes construction of a new 20,000 sf metal building (“Assembly Building 4”) for additional manufacturing activities. The proposed building would be 26 ft high rigid frame metal building with exterior metal skinned foam panel walls and roof, with a reinforced concrete footing and slab floor. The building would consist of seven restrooms, five small offices, reception space, conference room, locker room, a large breakroom, and the remaining 15,000 sf of floor space would be for manufacturing equipment and work stations. Four (4) accessory structures would be constructed adjacent to the new building: 1) a building to store gas bottles (nitrogen) and an air compressor to be used for the manufacturing of products; 2) a maintenance garage structure to house service equipment vehicle(s); 3) a UPS building; and 3) a fire sprinkler pump building. The accessory structures would be located within the footprint of the main building’s concrete slab. Parking would be provided via a new parking lot northwest (across the access road) of the proposed building. The parking lot would provide 50 employee parking spaces, 1 ADA and 3 guest parking spaces. ADA spaces would be provided within the proposed building envelope footprint to ensure accessible access in accordance with the CA Building Code. RSI also has additional parking at the main facility campus. Access. The site is accessed via two private driveway entrances (north and south) from CA State Highway 175. The south entrance provides access to the existing RSI facilities, and the north entrance has historically provided access to the north portion of the property, storage areas and an existing water tank. The north access road would upgraded for PRC 4290/4291 fire access standards and would serve the proposed building(s). Specifically, the applicant proposes to pave the driveway from the entrance gate to the existing building and parking lot. Earthwork. The building pad, access road, and parking lot would require grading to provide the desire space for the new facilities. The excavated soils (approximately 47,500 cubic yards) would be placed on site as engineered fill, in accordance with the grading plans and geotechnical report. A Complex Grading Permit is required for earthwork activities, and all grading would be in compliance with requirements of Chapter 30, Grading Ordinance, the Lake County Municipal Code. Best Management Practices (BMPs) for erosion would include fiber rolls on slopes, gravel filter bags around drain inlets and culvert entrances, crushed rock tracking area on the access road to keep material on-site. No vegetation or trees are proposed for removal. All site drainage would be managed with storm drain piping and the energy dissipation from storm drain pipe discharge would be adequately addressed the piping extending would downslope and the discharge area would be armored with rock as needed to protect against soil erosion. If culvert improvements are required as a part of access work, the applicant is required to obtain a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement from CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Utilities. Utilities for the new building would be trenched underground from Highway 175 within the existing access road to the proposed building. PG&E is currently undergrounding utility lines in the project area. A new connection would be established to the existing PG&E electrical transmission wires across Highway 175. If the undergrounding project has not reached the site by the time of construction, a temporary overhead primary service pole would be installed, to be placed underground in the near future. The manufacturing process does not require water, but RSI currently has a public drinking water permit from the State Water Resources Control Board water for domestic use (sinks, restrooms, drinking water, etc.). Solid waste would be disposed of via a new wastewater treatment and disposal system (septic). The system would be designed to have the capacity for the currently proposed building and sized to handle or capable of modular expansion of a possible future building in the vicinity. The design would be based on the 15 gallons/per day/per person, and the disposal field would be designed for a disposal rate of 0.4 gal/day/sf to the native soil. Permits from the County of Lake Dept. of Environmental Health will be obtained, as needed for sewer and water. Fire Protection. In addition to the road being upgraded for fire access requirements, a new 75,000-gallon steel water tank would be constructed for fire flow of the building would contain a fire sprinkler system. A water main would connect to the new building and it would be pressurized by an electric fire pump connected to a diesel backup generator which also would serve the building during power outages. Construction. Construction is anticipated to take approximately three months. Hours of construction would be Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Equipment for construction would include bull dozer, excavators, compactors, dump trucks, water trucks, and other standard construction equipment for construction of the buildings. All equipment would be staged within previously disturbed areas, existing parking lots and roads. Operation. RSI currently has 100 employees, and intends to move approximately 30+ employees from the main campus into the new Assembly 4 building. RSI hours of operation are Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Employees are typically onsite between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.