City officials are considering tighter regulations on outdoor wooden pallet storage yards after a large fire at a pallet yard in March sent three Riverside firefighters to the hospital, renewing safety concerns.
The Land Use Committee — made up of councilmembers Clarissa Cervantes, Philip Falcone and Sean Mill — on Monday directed city staff to return with more detailed regulations for pallet storage yards while the city's moratorium on new or expanded pallet storage yards remains in effect through May 1, 2027.
City staff presented three potential paths for permanent regulation: leave the zoning code unchanged, create use-specific regulations for pallet storage yards, or prohibit the use citywide. Use-specific regulations could address where the yards are allowed, what permits they require, who approves them and standards for stacking, screening, lighting, landscaping, security, fire suppression and emergency access.
The committee ultimately asked staff to develop more detailed options and return for further discussion.
The committee's regulation suggestions include restrictions on where storage yards can operate, conditional use permits, stronger requirements for fire safety and screening and separation from nearby properties.
The city currently treats pallet storage yards as general outdoor storage under its zoning code rather than as a separate land use. Depending on the zoning district and whether the storage is a primary or ancillary use, a yard may require a minor conditional use permit.
However, city staff told the committee that those general rules do not specifically address the hazards associated with large quantities of wooden pallets.
Since January 2025, there have been 29 incidents involving pallet storage yards that required emergency response, according to the Riverside Fire Department. A March 2026 fire that originated at a pallet storage yard in the Northside neighborhood damaged and destroyed multiple businesses and sent three Riverside firefighters to the hospital, according to the city report.
Code enforcement officials have also issued 36 notices of violation to 11 pallet storage businesses since 2023. Nine of those businesses had ongoing code enforcement cases when the report was prepared. Violations and complaints have included inadequate screening, circulation, fencing, lighting, property maintenance and pest control, as well as unpermitted outdoor pallet assembly and disassembly.
Mill, who serves as the committee chair, said he would like to ban pallet storage yards near residential neighborhoods, schools, parks and other sensitive areas and limit them to designated heavy and general industrial zones.
He also supported requiring conditional use permits, substantial setbacks from structures and property lines, fire department standards for stack height and spacing, masonry walls and landscaping to screen pallets from view, paved or otherwise approved surfaces, stormwater compliance and controls on truck routes and operating hours.
Cervantes agreed with many of those proposals and said the city should examine whether additional restrictions are needed in areas with higher fire risk, including areas near open space and higher fire hazard severity zones.
Cervantes also raised concerns about businesses such as grocery stores that store pallets outdoors but are not dedicated pallet storage businesses. City staff said those uses could be examined as part of a broader review of combustible outdoor storage.
Falcone said he favored banning pallet storage yards but questioned whether the city has enough enforcement power to make a more complicated regulatory system effective, saying existing fines and enforcement procedures have not always resulted in compliance and questioned what additional tools the city could use when businesses repeatedly violate regulations.
"Our enforcement processes are so weak and so lackluster that a hundred dollar fine means nothing to these property owners who just will not comply," he said. "If I felt confident in our enforcement abilities, I would say yes to that. But the problem is I don't know how."
Mill agreed, directing staff to work on enforcement that would get pallet yards to comply with regulations.
"I do think we do need to work on the enforcement piece…It's very frustrating at times, but I think that's a bigger discussion that needs to be had on other issues," he said, adding that the city could exercise more control by making pallet yards get a conditional use permit that can be revoked.
"And if that gets revoked, then they're out of business. Right now we currently don't have that," he said.
The committee also heard from Mike McCarthy, conservation co-chair for the Sierra Club Box Springs Group, who urged the city to consider regulations covering combustible outdoor storage more broadly.
McCarthy pointed to a 2022 fire on Opportunity Way involving about 10 acres of cardboard that injured a firefighter and said similar regulations should address materials including wood chips, wood scrap and cardboard, not just wooden pallets. He also called for stricter requirements in very high fire hazard severity zones.
The city's current moratorium was adopted in May and extended in June as staff studied permanent regulations. The first ordinance established a 45-day moratorium on establishing or expanding wooden pallet storage yards, and second ordinance extended it for an additional 10 months and 15 days, through May 1, 2027.
