Residents of a rural town in San Bernardino County are being evicted to make way for the development of an upcoming industrial business park.
Bloomington residents are protesting the construction of the 213-acre business park that they say is pushing community members out of their homes. Already, homes in the area planned for construction have been demolished and those who’ve been evicted tell NBC4 they feel property owners are letting developers take over their neighborhoods.
“Times have changed. Bloomington is nothing of what it used to be,” said Pam Sepulveda, who bought her home in the town 41 years ago.
She said her neighborhood has been rapidly transforming with several factories emerging over recent years.
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“This isn’t what I wanted,” she said. “I wanted to live here the rest of our lives and if they’re going to be building their warehouses right up to us, then this isn’t our retirement.”
An Orange County industrial real estate company is working on a development just two blocks away from Sepulveda’s home. The company is demolishing 117 homes to make way for more than 2 million square feet of warehousing space. Many homeowners in the area have already sold their properties but renters say they’ve been given no choice in the matter.
“We don’t have a place to go,” said Fatima Ortiz, who lives in Bloomington.
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Fatima and her family have rented a ranch in town for more than a decade. The family of six will have to find a new home next month for themselves and their livestock, however.
“I’m seeing my community being destroyed,” said Joaquin Castillejos, a Bloomington resident. “I’m seeing our traditions, our culture being erased and our land being taken bit by bit.”
Castillejos is part of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. After construction for the development was unanimously approved by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in November 2022, he and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the county.
“When San Bernardino County approved the Bloomington business park specific plan, its environmental review was missing critical information on the environmental impacts of the project,” said Candice Youngblood, an attorney with Earth Justice. “And the county also failed to meaningfully engage the Bloomington community throughout its process.”
Separately, Earth Justice filed a complaint against the county alleging it targeted the majority Latino community for warehouse development.
“The remedy in these cases isn't stopping the project but doing a more serious review of the project's environmental consequences before approving the project,” Youngblood said. “For the civil rights complaint, it isn't going to stop a particular project, but it is going to require if those agencies find that San Bernardino County is violating the Civil Rights Act.”
A hearing is scheduled later this month in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
NBC4 reached out to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and members of the Bloomington Municipal Advisory Council for comment.
