Schabarum Draws Line on Road Extension

It may not rival the Berlin Wall, but a six-foot-tall chain-link fence erected Friday in Diamond Bar is a sign of strained relations between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Supervisor Pete Schabarum ordered the fence put up at the terminus of Grand Avenue to block San Bernardino County’s plans to open an extension of the road to serve its rapidly growing community of Chino Hills.

Holding a press conference about 100 feet from where workers were constructing the barricade near the county line, Schabarum said the move was necessary to protect the safety of Diamond Bar residents because of traffic that would pour in from Chino Hills, a semi-rural area where new subdivisions are expected to add 16,000 homes over the next decade.

The road project, designed to give residents of Chino Hills direct access to the Orange and Pomona freeways, which meet in Diamond Bar, is expected to increase traffic on the four-lane Grand Avenue by 12,000 vehicles a day.

Opening Scheduled

Larry Walker, a San Bernardino supervisor, has said the extension must be opened immediately after its scheduled completion next month to relieve traffic congestion in Chino Hills.

But Schabarum said that, before the road is opened, San Bernardino County must mitigate the traffic impact by completing two other road projects in Chino Hills and paying for street improvements in Diamond Bar. He vowed that the fence will stay up until that is done.

In granting permission last year for a Chino Hills road project involving a small parcel of county land, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered that all traffic mitigation measures be finished before Grand Avenue opens.

Walker said he does not feel bound by conditions imposed unilaterally by Los Angeles County. The road will open as soon as possible, he said, and the mitigation measures will be completed “within a few months.”

Sides at an Impasse

Representatives of the two counties have met several times in recent months but have yet to resolve their differences. The impasse, Schabarum said, necessitated building the fence.

“I regard this simply as a temporary action to ensure the performance of the remaining provisions of the agreement,” he said.

Walker said San Bernardino County will seek a court order to force removal of the barrier.

“I don’t believe it is going to work,” Walker said of the fence. “One would have expected that L.A. County, if it thought it had a legal right, would have filed something in court (to delay opening of the extension). I think the fact that they built a physical barrier indicates their knowledge of their weak legal position.”

Incorporation Possible

Although Schabarum ordered the fence put up, he may not be the one to say when it will come down. Diamond Bar residents will vote March 7 on whether their unincorporated community should become a city. If Diamond Bar incorporates, county jurisdiction over Grand Avenue will end, and the new city’s council would be likely to fight moves to open the new road.

Irate citizens have formed two committees to oppose the project. One group submitted more than 3,300 letters to Schabarum, seeking his help in delaying the road’s opening. Another, a more militant group, is seeking a restraining order to block the project.

“I don’t think your new city council is going to be anything but hostile” toward the extension, Schabarum told residents at the scene Friday.