State-Mandated Housing for Chino Hills and Carbon Canyon

Thanks is due to a friend and fellow Canyonite from Olinda Village for the reminder to post about the issue of the impacts of state-mandated housing in Carbon Canyon as the City of Chino Hills grapples with the thorny problem of providing for nearly 4,000 units as required under the mandate.

Coverage in the Chino Hills Champion in its issue from 6 February lays out the scenario in terms of identified some twenty parcels in the city, including lower performing shopping centers, undeveloped land between Soquel Canyon Parkway and Woodview Road, the space between City Hall and The Shoppes, and, in Carbon Canyon, Western Hills Country Club.

Western Hills, which was opened in the mid-1960s on part of what was the ranch of industrialist Shelly Stoody, has been slated for closure and sale, with housing already a targeted use for the site.  The problem is that, unlike all of the other identified locations for mandated housing in the city, the traffic situation is simply untenable now and won't get any better down the road.

Carbon Canyon Road is a two-line state highway and it is physically impossible to widen it, given its proximity to Carbon [Canyon] Creek, steep canyon walls, and developed property.  Adding what easily could be hundreds of housing units on the Western Hills sites, in addition to other developable tracts like the proposed 28-unit property just to the east across Fairway Drive and the recently abandoned Hidden Oaks parcel to the west across from Circle K, takes us back to what has been raised frequently in this blog and elsewhere—building hundreds of housing units on the Chino Hills side of Carbon Canyon will not improve, but worsen, the quality of life for its residents and those who commute through it.

The state's rush to meet demand for an enormous number of housing units leads to released plans like the mandated housing element and the automatic approval of ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) without enough consideration of local concerns.  Moreover, what is appearently not being discussed nearly enough in conjunction with this is the projected availability and supply of water, power, means of transportation, schools, and other core and crucial components of infrastructure.  

Obviously, available and affordale housing in California is a vital issue, but the sheer level of pushback from cities of all kinds, from working-class to upscale, over the imposition of formulas by fiat rather than working with the particular conditions of communities, shows how contentious the matter is becoming.  Is it an iron-clad rule that, just because there is demand supply has to be met no matter the at-large cost?

This Tuesday the 16th @ 7 p.m., the Planning Commission will conduct another workshop on this issue and, at the end of the Champion article, Planning Commission Chair Jerry Blum encouraged residents to be involved and participate in the public input process.