Group Sues County Over Bonelli Park Proposals

A citizens’ group opposed to planned commercial development at Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park has filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming that officials violated state law by soliciting proposals from developers without first completing an environmental impact report.

In its suit, the Coalition to Preserve Bonelli Park contends that county officials have violated the California Environmental Quality Act by requesting proposals from developers for an equestrian center at the park before issuing a final environmental impact report.

“They’re going about this backward,” said San Dimas City Councilman Denis Bertone, co-chairman of the Coalition to Preserve Bonelli Park. “It’s almost as if they’re going to get the plans and then write the final environmental impact report around what the developers want.”

The suit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, also charges that the county exceeded its legal authority by soliciting bids without the approval of a joint powers authority, which includes representatives of the cities of San Dimas, La Verne, Claremont, Pomona, Covina and Glendora.

County officials said Tuesday that they had not been served with the lawsuit but rejected its main assertions.

A county attorney said that an environmental impact report need not be approved before requests for proposals are issued. An environmental review is only required when the Board of Supervisors considers approval of a specific project, said Helen S. Parker, senior deputy county counsel.

“As far as we’re concerned, the county has complied with state environmental laws,” Parker said. “It’s pretty clear that there are points at which (the Environmental Quality Act) does not require compliance because it’s too early in the process. . . . It’s not at a point where there can be a significant effect on the environment, which is what (the law) concerns itself with.”

The county has also issued a request for a proposal to develop a group picnic ground at the park, said Judy Hammond, press deputy for Supervisor Pete Schabarum. Other projects planned for the park include a hotel-motel-restaurant complex and a 9-hole golf course.

“We are not against all development in the park,” Bertone said. “The only project that they have proposed now that we are unequivocally opposed to is the hotel-motel-restaurant complex.”

The suit asserts that state law “requires public agencies to document and consider the environmental implications of their actions before going forward with a project.”

Parker said the county is not actually proceeding with the project but is merely “testing the waters” for developers who might be interested in financing and building the equestrian center. Bertone acknowledged that the question of whether the environmental report requirement applies to requests for proposals is “a gray area.”

The suit also contends that the Los Angeles County-Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park and Recreation Authority, composed of representatives of the county and six San Gabriel Valley cities, has authority over development in the park.

Citing the original joint powers agreement, which gives the authority the power to construct, maintain and operate facilities at the park, the suit claims that “any request for proposal must be called for and awarded by the joint powers authority.”

La Verne Councilman Patrick Gatti, chairman of the joint powers authority, has questioned whether the group may have more power under the agreement than it is currently allowed to exercise by the county.

“The authority has never had any complete involvement in what’s taken place at Bonelli Park,” Gatti said. “We’ve never had a role in that. It’s never been part of our purview.”

Bertone said the joint powers authority should have a greater role in park development. “That joint powers agreement gives the authority the power for developing projects in Bonelli Park,” he said. “The county has denied this, and they have given the authority no power.”

Senior Deputy County Counsel Amanda Susskind said the authority has no regulatory power over the park. The authority, she said, was created as “a financing mechanism” to issue bonds to pay for improvements made to the park in the early 1970s.

The state Constitution limits the amount of debt local governments can accrue, but there is no such limit on lease payments, Susskind said. To take advantage of the lease payment exception, the county created the Bonelli Park authority, which then floated the bonds for park improvements and leased the improved park area back to the county, she said.

Under such an arrangement, all control over park operation and development remains with the county, Susskind said. In addition, she added, the Bonelli Park authority was only used to finance improvements in one section of the park. The planned equestrian center is another area of the park, Susskind said.

“The authority has as much control over that area as they do over Baldwin Hills,” Susskind said.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent the county from accepting any proposals submitted by developers in response to its requests. Bertone said the county should also seek greater input from the cities included in the joint powers authority before proceeding with park development.

“This lawsuit will not stop any development--it’s not intended to do that,” Bertone said. “What it’s essentially trying to do is to get the county to play by the rules.”