Growth Foes in Chino Hills, Diamond Bar Forge Alliance

For activists in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills concerned about traffic congestion in their communities, extension of Grand Avenue was a divisive issue.

Residents of Chino Hills, a rapidly growing but isolated community in western San Bernardino County, have seen the extension of Grand Avenue through Diamond Bar to the Pomona and Orange freeways as a relief valve for the area’s gridlock.

In neighboring Diamond Bar, some residents bristled at the idea of having their own traffic problems exacerbated by an influx of Chino Hills commuters.

But in recent weeks, a slow-growth coalition has been formed by residents in the two communities.

The Stop Grand Avenue Expressway Committee, a Diamond Bar group formed last month, and a newly formed committee called CHITCHAT (Chino Hills in Traffic, Chino Hills Against Traffic) have reached a compromise agreement to seek a delay in the opening of the Grand Avenue extension.

Members of the Chino Hills group said they realize that extending Grand Avenue now would only pave the way for more growth in their community without necessarily solving their traffic problems.

“At this point, given the information we have traffic-wise, it doesn’t appear Grand Avenue is going to be that great of an outlet,” said Kim Kocman, a Chino Hills resident.

Gary Lawson, who founded the Diamond Bar committee, said his group’s concerns are now much broader than stopping the expansion of one road.

“It started with Grand Avenue, but as we got into it, we found it wasn’t just Grand Avenue; it was the entire development of Chino Hills that is suspect,” he said. “When we started, we were just worried about ourselves. Now we’re worried about the whole region.”

The two groups are seeking a moratorium on all new development in Chino Hills, a move that Lawson said could also delay the road extension, which San Bernardino County officials have tentatively scheduled for next spring.

The groups claim that the environmental impact report included in the Chino Hills Specific Plan, passed by San Bernardino County in 1982, seriously underestimated how much traffic would be generated by the eventual construction of 35,000 homes in Chino Hills.

Furthermore, they argue, the county has failed to build enough roads and make other infrastructure improvements to keep pace with residential development as required by the specific plan.

About 30% of the houses to be built in Chino Hills are already in place, but only 10% of the road work to improve access to the area has been completed. As a result, most commuters from Chino Hills to Orange County have to inch along Carbon Canyon Road, a windy, scenic highway.

The road, which the environmental impact report said could handle 15,000 vehicles a day after planned improvements, is now used by more than 17,000 cars a day, according to a traffic study commissioned by the neighboring city of Brea. Yet the county has already approved construction of about 10,000 new homes, which would effectively double the community’s population.

“They haven’t opened or widened any roads, and development has continued,” said Kocman. “We’ve got to stop (development) because we need to catch up. (Traffic is) bad now. What’s it going to be like when another 4,000 houses are built?”

The first step toward declaring the existing environmental impact report invalid was taken last week by San Bernardino County Supervisor Larry Walker, who represents Chino Hills. Walker said he agrees with the concerns about growth but opposes efforts to delay the Grand Avenue extension.

At the supervisors’ meeting Monday, Walker directed the county staff to examine the need for a new environmental study and report back to the board this week.

The question of the report’s validity was raised by attorneys representing developers who were opposed to Walker’s proposal to reduce housing density in Chino Hills and lower the maximum number of homes to be built in the area from 35,000 to 26,000.

The Diamond Bar and Chino Hills residents groups sided with the developers in opposing the current environmental impact report but favor Walker’s plan to reduce housing density. If the board chooses to commission a new environmental review--which would take about a year to complete--Walker said he will propose that the supervisors pass an interim ordinance reducing the number of homes slated for Chino Hills to approximately 26,000.

Walker said he agrees with many of the points raised by the citizens groups, particularly their criticism that the environmental impact report never adequately considered the traffic problems that would likely result from Chino Hills development.

Old Report

“Not only is the environmental impact report old and things have changed, but it was phony as a three-dollar bill from day one,” Walker said.

Walker also agreed with the groups’ criticism that the county’s construction and improvement of roads have not kept up with developers’ production of new houses.

“The crazy thing that’s happened in Chino Hills is that the houses are being built, and after the people move in, then the county starts thinking of building the roads,” he said.

Walker has offered the residents equivocal support for a halt on residential development in Chino Hills. He noted that last January he proposed a moratorium of his own, which supervisors rejected by a 4-1 vote. He suggested that the groups instead try to obtain an injunction against developers in the courts, though he added that this won’t be easy.

“If there’s some legal way that a homeowners association can sue to get a moratorium on development in the Chino Hills, then God bless ‘em,” Walker said. “If people think they’re going to get a moratorium on all the units that have been approved, more power to ‘em. I don’t know how they’re going to do that.”

Studying Legal Issues

Lawson said the groups are still researching the legal issues involved in seeking a moratorium and plan to hire a land-use attorney.

Gary Miller, who founded another Diamond Bar citizens group concerned about the Grand Avenue extension, said Lawson’s group should use care in pursuing its strategy to seek an injunction against development based on insufficient road construction.

Because San Bernardino County has agreed to pay for street improvements to reduce traffic problems caused by Grand Avenue’s opening, Miller said it is unlikely that the road could open as soon as next spring. San Bernardino County officials must first complete a traffic study, due next month, that will detail the improvements needed in Los Angeles County as the result of an influx of Chino Hills traffic into Diamond Bar.

But Miller said a moratorium effort based on inadequate access in and out of Chino Hills could have the unintended result of hastening the opening of Grand Avenue.

“If you’re going to sue, do it on the basis of the traffic study, not a lack of infrastructure,” said Miller, founder of Concerned Citizens for Diamond Bar Traffic Control. “The last thing we need is to give San Bernardino County just cause to say they need to open (Grand Avenue) up early.”

‘Makes No Sense’

Despite their agreement on the problems facing Chino Hills, Walker and the residents groups are at odds over Grand Avenue. Walker said Chino Hills residents who have joined the Diamond Bar group in urging a delay to the thoroughfare’s opening are misguided.

“They’re just trying to rationalize not opening up Grand Avenue, and that’s a position that makes no sense,” Walker said. “I don’t know who they’re working for, but it’s not the majority of Chino Hills residents. The fact is there’s not going to be a delay in the opening of Grand Avenue because the vast majority of Chino Hills residents understand its critical importance.”

However, Kocman said she and many other Chino Hills residents would prefer a continuation of their current traffic woes to the prospect of worsening gridlock caused by rapid development. “We know we can deal with what we have now; we have to deal with it,” Kocman said.

Although community activists from both Diamond Bar and Chino Hills have criticized Walker’s handling of development in the area, Walker noted that since he was elected to the board in 1986, fees charged to developers in Chino Hills have more than tripled.

Developers now pay more than $11,000 per unit to build in Chino Hills and an additional $3,600 per unit in refundable fees, Walker said. That money will enable San Bernardino County to complete road projects that will provide greater access for residents, he said.

By 1990, Walker predicted, new development will provide the money for road construction to catch up with the housing boom. Eventually, he said, all infrastructure improvements will be completed by the time 75% of the homes are occupied.

However, members of the residents groups said they are skeptical of any plan that allows developers to keep on building.

“They’re trying to jeopardize the health and safety of the existing residents to build more homes and make more money,” Lawson said.

Responded the supervisor: “I can understand if people don’t have a high trust factor in Larry Walker because (I am) a supervisor in a county that has had a sordid past in dealing with the Chino Hills. But I would say, please take a look at what has happened over the past two years.”