The steering committee, made up of Stanislaus County officials and public and private representatives, deserved to learn specifics about rail and traffic conflicts first, Kamilos said.
"Our partner is the county," Kamilos said when some asked why he had withheld information that might have pacified those attending a Patterson City Council meeting the night before. Revealing too much too soon, he said, would be like trotting out "shadow puppets."
"If we jump the gun and start speaking of materials that haven't been discussed with our partners," Kamilos said, "we would be in trouble."
Kamilos' prediction Tuesday evening that West Side motorists would wait no more than two minutes when blocked by trains heading to or from the former air base failed to win many fans. He issued a written pledge not to build homes but waited until Wednesday to unveil a new map proposal and discuss rail cargo specifics.
"Anyone there last night wasn't satisfied with the information they got," chided Arsenio Mataka, a county planning commissioner with West Side roots. "They're hungry for information."
Kamilos' venture group, PCCP West Park, intends to hold several community meetings in coming weeks, he said.
Key points revealed, or reaffirmed, Wednesday at the meeting in Modesto:
The base's main northwest-southeast runway, mostly unused since the former naval air base closed in 1996, initially would see corporate jets and small airplanes. Competition from area airports would make freight use unlikely.
A secondary north-south runway, previously designated for abandonment, would be a good place to unload rail cars without interfering with street traffic. The runway was rebuilt after World War II with a river-rock base capped by reinforced concrete and retains "a tremendous amount of strength," Kamilos said.
"We need a platform," he said, "and this allows us to recycle the runway."
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wants to relocate firefighting planes in Scotts Valley, near Santa Cruz, to the business park and build a 10,000-square-foot building for them.
California Highway Patrol authorities are interested in basing an air fleet on five acres next to the main runway.
Kamilos envisions a work-force center that could help train prospective employees or retrain displaced workers. Target and Macy's considered putting distribution facilities in Patterson's Keystone Business Park but said they went elsewhere because of a dearth of educated workers.
A transportation study will suggest creating a route-management system that would direct big rigs away from Patterson and Newman. Such coordination has worked in other regions, including the Great Lakes, East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, Kamilos said.
Groundbreaking cooperation between the Bay Area and Central Valley could trump historically powerful lobbies going after federal rail money.
"We're hearing that Southern California is acknowledging that funds are going to the Central Valley," Kamilos said. He expects to apply by year's end.
The business park would rely on Delta-Mendota Canal water treated by the Del Puerto Water District, which would build a treatment plant near Fink Road.
Rainwater would drain to a retention pond at the north end of the development, to be pumped periodically into Salado Creek.
The smaller Little Salado Creek, a seasonal stream at best, may pose problems. All creeks, even those running two weeks a year, enjoy some government protection, Kamilos said.
The county could build or entice a hospital or other health care facility on land reserved along Fink Road, east of Interstate 5.
Kamilos predicts 50 or 60 companies eventually will locate on large parcels in Crows Landing. "We're not talking about hundreds of employers," he said.
Levurn Berberia, a steering committee member living in Crows Landing, encouraged Kamilos to hold a public meeting soon in Crows Landing.
"They don't want to go to Patterson or Newman," Berberia said. "They're feeling totally ignored and really frustrated that they have not been included."
Kamilos said opposition hasn't derailed the grand plan.
"I'm not discouraged at all," he said. "I've always said that all the elements are there to make this happen."
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or 578-2390.
