19 March 2021

Proposed Legislation to Require State to Add to Chino Hills State Park

Lying just to the south of Carbon Canyon on the other side of Soquel Canyon and also a small portion north adjacent to Olinda Village, Chino Hills State Park is a crown jewel of passive recreational space in an increasingly urbanized area. While it has been ravaged by huge wildfires twice in the last dozen years, the park remains vital for our region and it is great news that legislation by Senator Josh Newman, recently returned to the legislature after a recall, to require the state park system to rescind its policy of not accepting purchased or donated land to any given park.

Working with Hills for Everyone, the amazing grassroots group that led the effort to create the park some forty years ago, Senator Newman crafted and introduced the bill, which is advancing through committees and, hopefully, will soon be passed and sent to the governor for his signature.  At issue for the CHSP are 1,600 acres, mostly at the eastern and southern sections, that will further insulate it from any future development, a problem that became most manifest in the Yorba Linda side where homes were built directly up against the park and, in the most egregious example, on view lots visible from large swaths of the park.

Hopefully, there'll be good news soon about this legislation and additions of a little more than 10% of the park's current size (it is now over 14,000 acres), so we'll stay tuned for future developments—oops, wrong word; let's use "future news."

Read more about Sen. Newman's legislation here.

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