Proposed Highway Change Could Delay Development

Saying he wants to plan for a worst-case scenario, Councilman John M. Gullixson will work with city staff to determine how a ballot measure to stop Imperial Highway widening could affect a proposed development in the Chino Hills.

The controversial Shell Oil Co. project would build 2,100 homes in the hills above the city. Since the city entered a preliminary agreement with the developers, residents placed a measure on the November ballot that gives voters a chance to reject widening of Imperial Highway.

Shell officials said their project would be unaffected even if the highway widening is rejected. They said they won’t delay the development planning process to wait and see what happens in November.

But Gullixson said the influx of new residents from the project could be too much for the highway as it is now.

“We have entered into an agreement with the assumption Imperial Highway improvements will be made,” Gullixson said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “We cannot allow a developer to build a project when [its] impact is not addressed.”

The council voted 5 to 0 to revisit the issue in two weeks, after Gullixson and city staff review options, and after instructing the Planning Commission to work up a contingency plan for the Shell development in case the November highway initiative passes.