Diamond Bar Committee to Draft General Plan

DIAMOND BAR —  Residents of the newest San Gabriel Valley city will take the first step this week toward developing a general plan that will tackle escalating concerns over traffic congestion and development.

Thirty Diamond Bar residents, chosen by the City Council, and Councilmen Gary Werner and Gary Miller will meet Thursday night as the city’s general plan committee. They will be responsible for drafting the plan, which is expected to take up to two years.

City Manager Robert Van Nort, who will preside over most of the committee meetings, said he foresees a lengthy, sometimes grueling process of dividing the group into subcommittees to address the environment, traffic, housing, earthquake safety and other issues affecting the city of 47,000.

The General Plan for Big Bear, which Van Nort helped design as city manager there, took two years to complete, he said.

Traffic through Diamond Bar, and devising methods to control it, has always been a rallying point in the community, and the plan is expected to reflect the city’s firm stand against traffic congestion.

When San Bernardino County officials extended Grand Avenue to Diamond Bar before the city was incorporated, Los Angeles County feared that the road would bring thousands of additional cars to the area from the rapidly growing community of Chino Hills. So Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum responded by having a fence and wooden barricades erected just a few feet inside the county line.

In turn, San Bernardino County sued Los Angeles County in April, saying the fence obstructed a public right-of-way, and sought a court order to tear it down. Since then, attorneys for both sides have been negotiating to settle the matter out of court. Van Nort said Diamond Bar will remove the barricades if San Bernardino County officials agree to help allay traffic congestion, including constructing more roads in Chino Hills.

Mayor Phyllis Papen said protecting environmental resources should be a priority in the general plan. The council has hired a private firm to study how the city can use reclaimed water for irrigation and recreation. City staff members are developing a franchise agreement to require vehicles transporting solid waste to operate on alternative fuels.

The city has enlisted the help of professionals. Cal Poly Pomona researchers will collect land-use data to be used in the general plan. The Ontario-based firm Planning Network will send a consultant to the committee meetings. And by the end of the year, Van Nort said, Diamond Bar will have its own planning director.

“We will have address the issues of the ‘90s,” he said. “We’ll focus on regional issues, hazardous wastes, environmental concerns. We can’t be an entity unto ourselves anymore.”