City of Industry Sued Over Purchase of Canyon

Environmental groups on Wednesday sued the city of Industry’s redevelopment agency over its purchase of a pristine canyon that is a critical link in a 30-mile wildlife corridor.

The conservationists say the city violated environmental and redevelopment laws when it bought about 2,500 acres of the Firestone Boy Scout camp in Tonner Canyon, two miles outside the Industry city limits.

City of Industry officials say they want to build a reservoir on the property near Diamond Bar. The Scouts accepted the city’s $16.5-million offer last month after more lucrative bids, made by two environmental groups hoping to preserve the land for open space, fell apart.

Now, one of those groups--a state agency called the Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority-- along with the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, are suing to reverse the real estate transaction, based on two main allegations:

* That the city failed to conduct an environmental review of the reservoir project before purchasing the land.

* That the redevelopment agency is required to spend its money to stop blight within designated parts of the city and cannot purchase undeveloped land two miles away.

The lawsuit also alleges that no public hearings were held by the agency to discuss the expenditures, as required by law.

“This is a very unique situation,” said attorney Murray Kane, who filed the lawsuit in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday and specializes in redevelopment law.

Kane added that the only other time he’s seen a redevelopment agency buy land so far outside city limits was when Industry purchased a smaller ranch in the upper part of Tonner Canyon in the 1970s.

“That was just as silly as this, but nobody challenged it,” he said.

City officials declined to comment Wednesday. But in previous interviews, they said the purchase qualified as a redevelopment project because storing water in a reservoir would help earn credits toward the rights to use imported water throughout the entire city. They also say a dam could be used to produce electricity.

“If the furnishing of water and electricity would be a benefit to the city, it is a valid redevelopment project,” said Michael Montgomery, the legal counsel for the city agency, in a recent interview.

Metropolitan Water District officials said Industry has not approached them about the reservoir or earning imported water credits.

City officials also have said they have conducted an environmental review of the purchase but don’t have to do the same for the reservoir project until they start planning it. Officials say they are just beginning to study the feasibility of a reservoir.

A previous city report said the canyon might be able to hold as much as 250,000 acre-feet of water, which would make a reservoir there one of the region’s largest.

If the project cannot pass muster in the environmental review process--the area is one of the county’s 62 designated significant ecological areas--city officials say they plan to leave the area as open space.

But conservationists say they suspect the redevelopment agency will ultimately use the land for housing or other developments.

“I think the land will be developed,” said Jeff Yann, chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Task Force of the Sierra Club. “Look at the city of Industry: There’s no open land. And why would they spend $16.5 million just to have this big open space outside the city?”

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Suit Over Land Purchase

Environmental groups are suing Industry’s redevelopment agency over purchase of Tonner Canyon, a critical link in the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor.