Achieving health equity and planning healthier futures starts with power sharing. That was the throughline of a recent conversation with Miguel Vazquez, Health Equity Urban and Regional Planner for Riverside University Health System–Public Health, who argues that planning only serves public health when communities help make the decisions that shape their neighborhoods.
In a wide-ranging interview on the Healthy Desert Healthy You podcast with host Will Dean, an executive with Desert Healthcare District and Foundation (Episode 19, published Aug. 28, 2025 https://www.dhcd.org/Podcast) Vazquez traced how land-use choices ripple into air quality, housing, open space, and everyday well-being – and why residents, especially young people, must have a seat at the table. The podcast previews one of several important panel discussions scheduled for the District’s Healthy Desert, Healthy You Environmental Health Summit on Thursday, September 11.
Will Dean, Director of Communications, Desert Healthcare District
“Planning” is powerful, but most people just don’t see it
Vazquez says many residents don’t realize how much urban planning guides what they experience every day, from where homes and parks go to how trucks reach distribution hubs. He describes his health equity role as creating opportunities for people to participate meaningfully in those decisions, moving beyond formal public comment processes toward genuine co-creation.
An environmental lens shaped by early work in waste
Before entering public health planning, Vazquez gained experience in environmental programs as a solid waste coordinator, work that solidified his view of land use in tangible, day-to-day systems, such as recycling and resource recovery. That early experience, he says, still informs how he weighs the environmental and health trade-offs of development proposals.
The warehouse era and what’s driving it
Southern California’s logistics buildout has transformed the region. In 1980, the Inland Empire had 234 large warehouses; today, there are more than 4,000, covering nearly 40 square miles. The scale reflects national supply chains, but also our expectation that a tap on a phone delivers a package tomorrow. That convenience has consequences: more truck traffic, more emissions near homes and schools, and greater pressure on local streets and open space.
Vazquez doesn’t frame distribution centers as villains. They’re part of the economic engine, and many cities pursued them for tax base and jobs. But he stresses the public-health side of the ledger: cumulative pollution and noise, diesel exhaust exposure, and the siting of massive roofs and loading bays near sensitive uses. The question, he says, isn’t warehouses or no warehouses; it’s how to manage them responsibly and where they fit within broader community goals.
What balancing land use actually looks like
Land-use planning, Vazquez explains, is an exercise in trade-offs guided by a city’s general plan: housing (single-family and multifamily), jobs and commercial districts, parks and open space, circulation and truck routes, infrastructure, and environmental safeguards. The most challenging projects – such as large-scale logistics facilities – often necessitate environmental impact reports and teams of specialists. Planners can recommend compromises, he notes, but elected officials make the final calls, which is another reason residents need a real voice throughout.
Miguel Vazquez, Riverside University Health System – Public Health
Guardrails arrive: California’s AB 98
After years of local fights, California enacted statewide rules in 2024. AB 98, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 29, 2024, sets new design standards and minimum buffers for many new or expanded warehouses near homes, schools, hospitals and other “sensitive receptors,” and requires cities and counties to map and enforce truck routes that avoid neighborhoods.
The law also incorporates measures such as energy efficiency and EV-ready infrastructure, and, in certain cases, a 2-to-1 replacement requirement when occupied homes are demolished for logistics projects. Most provisions take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
Vazquez characterizes AB 98 as part of a broader effort to put “guardrails” on logistics growth—one that still leaves cities with choices to make: how much land to zone for warehousing, where to place buffers and green space, and how to tie freight to cleaner technology over time. The premise, he argues, is not to freeze development but to align it with community health and long-term resilience.
The consumer link
One insight that resonates close to home: our purchasing habits have helped shape the warehouse landscape we see today. One-click shopping and overnight delivery pull trucks through neighborhoods and concentrate distribution sheds where land was once cheaper. That doesn’t mean the “convenience economy” is inherently bad, Vazquez says, while acknowledging the link is the first step to managing its footprint more fairly.
Seats at the table, especially for youth
For Vazquez, the most durable planning outcomes emerge when people who live with the impacts help design the solutions. He points to youth engagement as a force multiplier—students who learn the basics of planning, show up early in processes, and ask persistent questions about air quality, safe streets, and open-space preservation. Empowered residents, he says, change projects and sometimes city priorities.
The road ahead
The warehouse boom isn’t likely to disappear overnight, and market shocks, from automation to shifts in consumer behavior, could redraw today’s freight map. That volatility is exactly why, Vazquez argues, public health voices and community priorities must be embedded in land-use decisions now: to protect sensitive neighbors, secure cleaner freight corridors, and keep room for housing, parks, and habitat as regions grow.
Conference Preview: “Healthy Desert, Healthy You” – September 11
The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation hosts its second annual Healthy Desert, Healthy You Environmental Health Summit on Sept. 11, 2025, a free event at The Westin Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage.
Morning programming features “The Changing Climate: Impacts, Challenges, and Action,” followed by two concurrent sessions:
- “Advancing Renewable Energy & Green Technology for a Sustainable Future”
- “Balancing Growth: The Environmental Impact of Land Use, Infrastructure, and Corporate Distribution Centers.”
In the afternoon, keynote speaker Andrea Vidaurre, co-founder and policy analyst at the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, takes the stage. Vidaurre won the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize and was named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025, highlighting the push to transition logistics to zero-emission operations so communities aren’t sacrificed for next-day delivery.
After the keynote, attendees can choose between “Air Quality in Action: Grantee-Led Solutions for Healthier Environments” and “Building Tomorrow: Youth in Action Today and Careers in Environmental Health,” with additional sessions on air-quality health outcomes, safe water, government & city-led responses, and a highly anticipated panel on the Salton Sea.
A marquee session, “Restoring the Salton Sea & Lithium Extraction: Balancing Opportunity & Environmental and Health Impacts,” assembles a high-profile panel, including California Energy Commissioner Noemí Gallardo, Michael Cohen (Pacific Institute), Aydee Palomino (Alianza Coachella Valley), Eric Montoya Reyes (Los Amigos de la Comunidad, Inc.), and Joe Shea (California Natural Resources Agency).
