CITY OF NATIONAL CITY
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of National City will hold a Public Hearing after the hour of 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 7, 2025, in the City Council Chambers, Civic Center, 1243 National City Blvd., National City, CA., to consider:
CONSIDERATION OF A FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT TO ASSESS
PROJECT IMPACTS AND AN APPEAL OF A DENIAL OF A CONDITIONAL USE
PERMIT AND COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT FOR A PROPOSED FUEL
TRANSFER FACILITY (SAN DIEGO CLEAN FUELS LLC) WITHIN BNSF RAILROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY AND BNSF-OWNED PROPERTY, LOCATED WEST OF THE 1800 BLOCK OF CLEVELAND AVENUE AND NORTH OF WEST 19TH STREET, NORTH TO
CIVIC CENTER DRIVE
CASE FILE NO. 2023-03 CUP, CDP, IS
APNS: 559-010-14, 559-040-46, 559-040-47, 559-040-48,
559-040-52, 559-076-02, 559-091-03, & 559-091-11
The Planning Commission conducted a Public Hearing at their meeting of September 15, 2025 and voted to deny the Conditional Use Permit and Coastal Development Permit, by a vote of 4 to 1. The applicant submitted an appeal of the project denial, which is to be heard by the City Council.
The project application was submitted on January 30, 2023 (Applicant: Cindy Fleming, Fleming Alliance Architecture) proposing to construct and operate a fuel transfer facility within an approximately 7.5-acre site located on and adjacent to existing Burlington Northern & Santa Fe railway tracks. The location is between Civic Center Drive and West 19th Street and to the west of Cleveland Avenue. Rail cars will be delivered to the facility utilizing an existing rail spur that will be reconfigured to provide capacity for up to 21 rail cars. Clean renewable and biofuels (renewable diesel, ethanal, and sustainable aviation fuel) will then be transferred from the rail cars to trucks with an above-ground pump system. No fuel will be stored on site. The quantity of transferred fuel will be approximately 13,800 barrels of fuel per day. The site would receive up to 72 trucks a day, which would deliver the fuel to retail clients in the metropolitan San Diego area. The City Council will also consider findings presented in the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that the potential proposed project impacts may be mitigated to below a level of significance as contemplated under the California Environmental Quality Act. In addition, the project is located within the Coastal Zone. Pursuant to Section 30603 of the Coastal Act, action taken on a major energy facility may be appealable to the California Coastal Commission (CCC). Appeals must be filed with the CCC within 10 working days of a final local action notice.
Information is available for review at the City’s Planning Division, Civic Center. Anyone interested in this matter may appear at the above time and place and be heard. Written comments or testimony from the public must be submitted via email to [email protected] by 2:00 P.M. on the day of the City Council Meeting. For information on registering to provide public comment via Zoom please visit the City Clerk’s webpage at https://www.nationalcityca.gov/government/cityclerk/public-comments If you challenge the nature of the proposed action in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the Public Hearing described in this notice via e-mail, or through written correspondence delivered to the undersigned prior to the Public Hearing.
September 24, 2025
Shelley Chapel, MMC, City Clerk
Published in the Star News: Friday, September 26, 2025.