San Dimas to Create Park in Vacant Field

The San Dimas City Council has voted to turn a vacant seven-acre field at Puente and Via Verde avenues into a neighborhood park, and has allocated $100,000 to plant grass and trees in the area, now only dirt and weeds.

“It’s our intent to landscape the entire area,” said Councilman Terry Dipple. “It’s a major intersection in the Via Verde area.”

The city planned to build a school and park on the site when it purchased the land for $350,000 from a Los Angeles developer two years ago. Those plans were abandoned, and residents have complained that the vacant field is an eyesore.

Under an earlier proposal by City Manager Robert Poff, the city would landscape only the land visible from Via Verde Avenue, at a cost of about $17,000. That money would come from the Via Verde Park Improvement Fund, which consists of fees collected from developers. But Dipple said the council would be willing to allocate the additional money to landscape the entire area so that the city would follow its own rules.

“We’re saying to our developers that they have to landscape and make all kinds of improvements, but we’re not requiring ourselves to landscape the seven acres at the major intersection in the city,” Dipple said.