Hidden Oaks Community Meeting Recap

Today's edition of the Champion features a review by Marianne Napoles of a community meeting held on the 6th at Western Hills Country Club with a developer's presentation of the Hidden Oaks housing project, which proposes 53 units on 527 acres south of Carbon Canyon Road, just east of Sleepy Hollow and across from the Circle K convenience store and the Hillcrest community of 76 houses which is just now, after some three years, finally in its last phase.

The discussion, led by consultant Jeff Weber, noted that, when a project was first proposed on the site some thirty years ago, the number of units zoned for the property was just under 250.  This was when a notorious uprooting of a great number of oak trees took place, with many of them boxed and left on the property to die when the developer went belly up.  That travesty was not forgotten as a few audience members well recalled the incident during the presentation.

Current developer K.V. Kumar and associates had a preliminary community meeting at the McCoy Equestrian Center in September 2015 and the link here is from a Chronicle post that goes into great detail about the project as it was proposed then.  Among the elements at the time was that the number of units was 107 and they were spread out through a significant part of the site, including on some prominent higher points.

Since then, however, there has been a significant reduction in units, about half, and they have been even more clustered on about 60 acres (comprising just over 10% of the total acreage) toward the northeastern portion of the property, leaving the higher elevations of the site in open space.  Much of this was to address concerns about visibility of those locales from Chino Hills State Park.

The "Vesting Tentative Tract Map" for Hidden Oaks, which is slated for 53 large homes on average lot zizes of a half-acre, south of Carbon Canyon Road (see top left) at Canyon Hills Road.  The clustering at the northeast corner is a significant change from the 107 units more spread out on the site as proposed several years ago and a massive reduction from the nearly 250 units proposed in a project some thirty-years ago.  Click on the image to see it enlarged in a separate window.

Notably, there was a great deal of effort put into having an emergency access road built to the southeast from the tract, exiting through the Vellano community and several routes were explored.  The most likely and least invasive, however, was not possible because the landowner refused to sell an easement.  So, now, and with the approval of the fire district, the secondary road is one first proposed in 2015 and which exits the northwest part of the tract and onto Carbon Canyon Road.  An issue here is that this is just a few hundred yards west of the main entrance at Canyon Hills Road and, if there was a large-scale evacuation of the canyon, it would put everyone in Hidden Oaks on the state highway with everyone else.

It was stated that new state standards for fuel modification zones are to be applied and some 450 trees, mostly oaks, are to be removed and the 2-1 ratio for replanting in compliance with a city oak tree ordinance.  The units will have sewers and there will be a tie-in to the lift station built across Carbon Canyon Road for the Hillcrest subdivision, which takes the material out of the canyon to the northeast and into the Chino Hills system.

There were plenty of questions and comments from the audience, much of which had to do with the question of tree removal and replacement and how residents will be notified of future meetings, specifically those before the city's Planning Commission and City Council.  There were a couple of outliers, one comment being that it would be better to spread out the units even on the more visible and prominent ridge lines because the current configuration would be too visible within the canyon.  Another commenter suggested public access to trails leading through Hidden Oaks to Soquel Canyon, where a parking lot could be placed for easy connection to the state park—slyly, he added that he happened to own the property where he proposed the parking area be situated.

Generally, though, there didn't seem to be that much opposition to the project in totality and this may be a reflection of the fact that the number of units is drastically lower than the original zoning and that the clustering kept houses in lower elevations, preserving much more open space.  Napoles quoted city council member Ray Marquez, a canyon resident, as being surprised that opposition was somewhat muted.  Council member Peter Rogers, who also lives in Carbon Canyon, was pleased at the attendance and reminded that there will be plenty of opportunity for residents to share views with city staff as the project moves forward.

A detail of the map showing the clustered area, a clubhouse and tennis courts at the upper left and the intersection of Carbon Canyon Road and Canyon Hills Road at that corner.  Click on the image to see it enlarged in a separate window.

It will be later in the year before studies are completed and the matter gets scheduled with the Planning Commission.  Weber, when asked, stated that it would not likely be until 2022 when ground is broken.  It is worth restating that Hillcrest, which looks to be similar in terms of square footage if not lot sizes (Weber said the general average for Hidden Oaks is a half-acre), has sold slowly, perhaps because of the price range as well as concerns about traffic in the canyon.

When traffic was discussed, it was noted that the significant increase in volume in recent years has largely been due to massive growth in the Inland Empire, a trend that will only accelerate.  One persistent audience member kept asking council member Rogers when enough is enough with respect to development in the canyon and, unfortunately, there is no good answer, partially because, even if the canyon was closed off completely for more building, traffic will still increase dramatically because of the tens of thousands of units projected just for south Ontario and Chino alone, much less elsewhere.

So, stay tuned as Hidden Oaks becomes a lot less concealed to the public in its progression.

A Double Dose of Tres Hermanos in the Champion

This week's edition of the Chino/Chino Hills Champion has not one, but two, front-page articles concerning Tres Hermanos Ranch, which is situated in Tonner Canyon directly north of Carbon Canyon.

One article concerns last Monday's Chino Hills Historical Society presentation to about 125 people on this history of the 2,450-acre ranch, owned by the City of Industry since 1978, but for about sixty years before that the property of the "three brothers," William R. Rowland, William B. Scott, and Harry Chandler.  Rowland died in 1926 and his share was evidently sold to the heirs of Scott, who passed away six years before that, and Chandler.

The talk actually went back to pre-history to mention that native indigenous Indians of the area and their likely use of the ranch site for hunting and gathering and noted that, during the Spanish and Mexican periods (up to the late 1840s), the property was part of public lands set aside for neighboring ranches to have additional grazing land for cattle and other animals.

Reference to Tres Hermanos Ranch and some legal trouble with cattle brands, San Bernardino County Sun, 1 June 1935.

By 1870, these public lands were made available for purchase by private citizens and among these were George Butler and Wilson Beach, who acquired the Tres Hermanos area by mid-decade and then sold an interest to teamster Charles Wright.  A few years later, Santa Cruz lumber baron Sedgwick Lynch acquired Butler and Beach's portion of the property and left that to his wife, Jane.  She and Wright held onto the Tres Hermanos area as part of an expanded Rancho Los Nogales, a 1,000-acre land grant from the 1840s that swelled to about 9,000 acres by the end of the century.

In 1908, Pittsburgh dentist and real estate investor Walter Fundenberg bought Los Nogales from Lynch and Wright and hoped to find oil, though the lucky strike never materialized.  Within a decade, he split Los Nogales through two sales:  one to Frederick Lewis, an East Coast millionaire who created the Diamond Bar Ranch, from which the city of that name was later developed, and the other to Rowland, Scott and Chandler as Tres Hermanos.

Examples of parties and other events at the ranch and some other tidbits were given in the talk and brief summaries of some of the later history, as well.  These latter included mention of the installation of a Metropolitan Water District feeder line through the ranch in the mid-1960s, plans early the next decade by the Pomona Valley Water Company to buy the ranch and create a massive reservoir for water storage and delivery; and the sale to the City of Industry, which contemplated residential development when early planning for Chino Hills was launched and later looked at a reservoir and a solar farm.

Speaking of the solar farm, the headline article on the front page of the Champion concerned yet another lawsuit filed about Tres Hermanos and the scuttled solar farm plans.  William Barkett, who'd signed a long-term deal with the City of Industry a few years back to develop the farm and then was informed that the deal was off by a new administration in that city, has brought suit against Industry, Chino Hills and Diamond Bar (these latter two cities recently acquiring interests in Tres Hermanos in a landmark deal with the City of Industry), as well as the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority established by the trio of municipalities.  Each of the four has its own legal representation.

A view of Tres Hermanos Ranch from near Diamond Ranch High School, March 2018.

Claiming potential lost revenue of $246 million, Barkett's San Gabriel Valley Water and Power alleges that the three cities illegally denied the firm's opportunity to develop the solar farm with the City of Commerce.  As noted here before, the proposed arrangement with Commerce, which came out of the blue led to some confusion on the part of Commerce's public comments about its commitment to the abruptly announced plans to pursue the project.

The company claims that the cities violated the Brown Act concerning public meetings to discuss the business of the municipalities, to which Chino Hills council member Ray Marquez responded that everything was done to the letter of the law and that the suit's allegations were "nonsense."

The three cities have until 22 May to file responses to the amended complaint of SGVWP, which was made on the 1st.  In turn, the firm will have until 21 June to reply to those responses.  Chino Hills Assistant City Attorney Elizabeth Calciano implied that there are no legal grounds for the suit, so that it should be tossed by the San Bernardino Superior Court.  She added, though, that there will be a 17 July hearing before a judge, who will decide what to do.

So, stay tuned for further news on this latest legal twist and other news relating to Tres Hermanos Ranch!

Sleepy Hollow Apartments Red-Tagged by Chino Hills

As reported in today's Champion by Marianne Napoles, a complex of apartments at the east end of Sleepy Hollow were red-tagged by the City of Chino Hills at the end of January and the residents of the eight units evicted.

The declaration by the city that the property was unsafe came because of a lawsuit filed by an unnamed tenant against landlord Leonard Aten, who has apparently owned the site since 2007. The suit concerned a fight over repairs to a unit requested by the tenant and the attorney for the plaintiff then contacted the City. Residents were notified by letter at the beginning of this month from the City's assistant attorney.

In that document, tenants were informed that Aten was required to provide them relocation assistance in events in which evictions are caused by orders like the one the City made because of the health and safety of residents.  Napoles talked to three of the tenants, who told her there was no such assistance offered by Aten.

Aten hired a Chino-based architect to help make the units code-compliant and Shiv Talwar told Napoles that he met with the owner and city officials so that plans could be drawn up to prepare for work that would "rectify the situation."  Specifically, Talwar said that electrical service was substandard and "the plumbing was bootlegged."  Bedroom lack "escape windows," and he noted property line issues, which is a problem throughout Sleepy Hollow because of inaccurate surveying.

Council member and Carbon Canyon resident Ray Marquez, who district includes Sleepy Hollow, told the paper he was surprised by the news and told Napoles he was concerned for the residents and would do what could to assist them.

The property's history goes back to at least 1930, when David Tidwell and his family lived on the site and operated a store as part of what was called "Tidwell Oaks."  The Tidwells were there into the 1940s and perhaps later.  It was said later to have included a bar and a brothel and, in the 1990s, was again a store operated by Fred Gentry.  Online records indicate he sold the property in 2007 and the buyer appears to have been Aten.

Aten tried to sell the property a few years ago, asking $1 million, but there were no takers at such a price and the listing was pulled.  When the realtor was contacted, he said that repairs were badly needed, but the owner did not want to make them, adding that the fleas were so big they "could bark." 

Napoles talked to a few of the residents, including longtime tenants of thirty or more years, one of which has terminal cancer and another having a spinal cord injury.  They talked of the shock of a sudden eviction and the difficulty in leaving.  Mail couldn't be delivered, they reported, because Aten removed the eight mailboxes that were at the front of the old store. 

Brad Walrath, a 35-year resident who has cancer, told Napoles he was "going from house to house, but it's hard to live with someone else when you're dying."  Emma Happ stated that "we were treated like criminals . . . as if we were the public nuisance."  Tom Warner, who lived there 30 years, said he was "emotionally distraught" and "like a zombie in total shock."  The latter two paid $800 and $415 a month in rent, respectively, an indication of the conditions at the property.

"History of the Hills" Column in the "Champion"

I'm honored and privileged to have been asked to contribute a monthly column called "History of the Hills" in the Commentary/Opinion section of our amazing 130 year-old newspaper, the Champion. 

The first column is in today's edition and touches upon the native indigenous people (Indians) of our area. Future columns will go into the early days of Rancho Santa Ana del Chino and its first two owners, Antonio María Lugo and his son-in-law, Isaac Williams.  The rancho's west boundary extended into Carbon Canyon to about where the Circle K convenience store is just east of Sleepy Hollow.  There will be posts down the road (!) about the Canyon, too. 

You have to either subscribe to the print or electronic editions to read the column, so here is the link to the paper's website.

Stonefield Stonewalling Stopped Stone Cold (Sort Of)

There is a little bit of good news on the Carbon Canyon housing development front, actually.

As reported by Marianne Napoles in last Saturday's edition of the Chino Hills Champion, Ausmas Properties, developer of the approved 28-unit Stonefield development, slated for construction between Carbon Canyon Road at the summit near the Carriage Hills subdivision and Fairway Drive across from Western Hills Country Club, is seeking yet another two-year extension, following two others, the number allowed by state law.

Seven residents spoke at the most recent Planning Commission meeting to point out that traffic has worsened significantly on Carbon Canyon Road since Stonefield was approved by the city council in 2009.

The assistant city attorney stated, however, that the project's contribution to that traffic is minimal and was concurred in this by the city's development director--in pure number-crunching terms this is true, except that Stonefield was approved with a stipulation that the developer pay for "traffic improvements" consisting of signals at Carbon Canyon and Fairway.

As we've found out since signals were installed at Olinda Village, largely to assist students to get to a school that was then closed down and moved, this "traffic improvement" only slows down the bulk of commuter traffic on the state highway, while providing some relief to the few vehicles that need access to it.  This, in fact, is the flip side of the assistant city attorney's coin (and that of the development director)--of which she only acknowledges one side.

As one resident astutely put it, "It's like saying we have a big leak in the boat, but this other little leak won't hurt."  A very fair analogy, especially when those steering the boat look at all of the leaks, like Stonefield (28 units), the in-process Canyon Hills (76 units), the soon-to-come-to-a-decision Hidden Oaks (107 units), and the not-yet-dead Madrona (161 units), in isolation as if there is no cumulative effect!

An Ausmas representative claimed that these mandated improvements were a major issue for the developer, yet it seems like 7 years is plenty of time to deal with that problem.  In other words, Ausmas either prepares to build accordingly because it has the financial wherewithal to do so, or it sells the property.

Wait, Ausmas actually is selling the property!  The representative didn't bring this up until it was pointed out by observant residents and then the question was asked by chairperson Gary Larson, who was also quoted as stating, "I'm tired of extensions.  I'm tired of developers blaming the recession."  Frankly, it was a bit surprising to read Larson's observation given the ease with which developers have been able to build just about anywhere in the city (and elsewhere, for that matter.)

Commissioner Mike Stover added, "At some point we need a 'have to use by' date.  If we wait long enough, there'll be another recession."

But, the most pointed remarks came from commissioner Stephen Romero, who decried a lack of transparency by staff, who didn't provide information to back up their statements, and then observed, "as projects come on board, at what point do we say that Carbon Canyon is a real problem?"  He aired his view that the canyon is a "death trap" which is being worsened by more development. Romero followed by noting, "it's getting worse, not better, so I have a real concern."

It's worth bringing up that a traffic engineer hired by Madrona's owner, the State of Idaho, after providing all of the mind-numbing data on traffic, then claimed, to a very audible chorus of groans, snickers and laughter from the audience at a Brea city council meeting, that traffic would go down over time.

Beyond traffic, though, there is the matter of water supply and fire risk in a hazardous fire zone with few exits for a growing amount of traffic and number of homes in the canyon.

After a 3-1 vote to reduce the 3-year request to 1-year, it was stated in the article that the question might appear on the agenda of the city council meeting, which was yesterday, so there may be more on this soon.

The Latest Carbon Canyon History from The Champion

Today's issue of the Champion features two front page stories highlighting local history.  The first was David Kramer's talk, sponsored by the Chino Hills Historical Society, last Monday night about the history of Los Serranos Country Club, which his father, tennis legend Jack Kramer, purchased over a half century ago.

Kramer wore old-fashioned golf attire for the presentation, which covered the history of the site when it was the "Home Ranch" on the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, through the creation of the country club and the surrounding Los Serranos tract in the mid-1920s, and then through the Kramer family's full ownership since 1961.

Meanwhile, reporter Marianne Napoles, who penned the Kramer piece, also wrote another interesting article on John Klavins, a 100-year old native of the Baltic country of Latvia, near Russia, who has owned a 2.6-acre parcel in Carbon Canyon since 1962 that has been often discussed on this blog.

An ad for the Ponderosa Bar and Motel, Chino Champion, 6 February 1969.

The property still features surviving cabins and the old clubhouse from Camp Kinder Ring, the facility run from 1928 to 1958 by the Workmen's Circle Arbeter Ring organization in Los Angeles.
Later, a succession of social clubs occupied the site, which also housed the Ponderosa bar and motel and the Purple Haze bar, both of which featured nude dancing, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

With legal problems attached to the operation of both Ponderosa and Purple Haze, Klavins decided not to renew the latter's lease and converted the structures on the property to rental unts, which they have been for the last forty-five years or so and which now accommodate fifteen residents.

The life story of Klavins is also remarkable.  Born in 1915, he remained in his native country until the outbreak of the Second World War, when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and his family's home and farm destroyed in the conflict.  Seized by the Nazis, he was sent to a labor camp in Germany, where he dug ditches for anti-aircraft guns.  His only sibling, a brother, was imprisoned in Siberia by the Soviets and died there.

An article from the San Bernardino Sun, 1 June 1971, about arrests for "marijuana and dangerous drugs" possession at the Purple Haze Bar "and adjacent cabins."

With the end of the war, Klavins was freed by Canadian forces and his fluency in several languages led to a job as a United Nations translator for migrants to America.  On his own arrival here, he got into the construction business and one of his projects was in Carbon Canyon--this being the construction of the Olinda Village shopping center.  Though long retired, he still lives in the same house he built in Orange sixty-five years ago and he intends to keep his Carbon Canyon property as long as he lives.

What happens after that, though, was encapsulated by a comment from one of his tenants, who assumed that, with the recent spate of development in the hills around the property, "like anything else, it's just a matter of time" before he and the other renters would have to leave, providing the Klavins property winds up being sold for more development.

Many thanks to Napoles and the Champion for continuing to promote the history of Carbon Canyon and the general area.

Sleepy Hollow Tree Removal Not Oak-ay?

UPDATE, 3 May 2014:  This weekend's Champion has an article by Marianne Napoles about the removal of the two trees on the property, with attention given to the fact that the felling of the second tree (close to the white shed at the left of the photo below) was not previously known to be ordered as part of the house project.

Chino Hills Community Development Director Joann Lombardo stated that the tree was ordered removed by the city engineer because it was in the public right-of-way and need to be cut down for widening of Rosemary Lane as part of the home's construction.

As noted previously, there were design phase reviews by city staff sent to the Planning Commission for review and vote.  Staff did not alert commission members to the fact that, while the applicant's arborist claimed the main oak (at the right in the photo) was diseased, the city's arborist stated otherwise, reporting it to be quite healthy.

In the case of the second oak, however, Ms. Lombardo stated that the city engineer's findings were not part of the design phase review and that she was not aware of it until later.

This is somewhat disconcerting:  there is a relatively simple house-building proposal that involves key elements that are uniform and expected.  The city engineer should be able to communicate with the community development department so that misunderstandings or a lack of information do not take place.

Again, it's not just that two mature, native oak trees were taken down--it is understandable that some mitigation has to be done to allow a project to move forward, a project that is welcomed when it adds to the neighborhood.

The problem is the information disconnect that clearly went on between three entities:  the city engineer, the community development department and the planning commission.  That simply should not have happened.

UPDATE, 30 April 2014:  The oak tree in question below and another one next to Rosemary Lane at the southwest corner of the property were cut down today.

A proposed home site on Rosemary Lane in Sleepy Hollow without two oak trees that were cut down today. Compare this photo to the one below showing the larger of the two oaks.  Click on the image to see it enlarged in a new window.

The large dual stumps of the 80+ year old oak tree chopped down today.

Another multi-stump oak cut down today--this one stood near the shed seen at the left in the top photo.

Today's Champion has an interesting article by Marianne Napoles on a proposal to build a custom home in Sleepy Hollow and the matter of removing an 80-year old oak tree as part of the project.

The property owners, a couple from Orange County, submitted an application with the City of Chino Hills for a two-story residence with Egyptian design elements, and the matter was reviewed by staff and submitted to the city's Planning Commission with a recommendation for approval.

During the commission's hearing, there were expressed concerns from its members about design elements being too prominent and out-of-character with the neighborhood (though, given how diverse the architecture is in Sleepy Hollow--this being, actually, a positive aspect), and whether infrastructure, principally the septic system, could be accommodated properly on the lot.

Local residents also pointed out potential problems with access to the property because of the narrowness and curvature of Rosemary Lane, along which the lot sits, as well as concern for a mature oak tree that sits next to the road at the edge of the parcel.

This latter point is at issue because the city recently enacted an oak preservation ordinance, though, as the Champion noted in its article, the ordinance was passed in Spring 2012, but not actually implemented until just last Fall because of delays in providing the operational structure and policy for the legislation. 

This was just a month after the proposed home's design was approved by the Planning Commission.

The fact that the delay was so lengthy became at issue when it was revealed in the news article that the above-mentioned tree was reported by staff to the Planning Commission at that body's 4 March hearing to be diseased and, therefore, deemed necessary for removal, with new oaks planted elsewhere on the property for compensation of the loss of the older tree.

What staff did not reveal to the commission, however, is that the determination that the mature tree was diseased came solely from the arborist hired by the property owners. 

In fact, the city's arborist had an entirely different conclusion when he examined the oak this past January--he stated the condition and health of the tree was, actually, average. 

In other words, there was no reason to remove the oak because of concerns about its physical condition--a point that was made by the applicants, who wanted to remove it, at least in part, because of an assumed risk and danger from collapse during period of strong winds and heavy rains. 

It should be noted, too, that oak trees can die and fall because of landscape irrigation, if existing trees used to natural water supply are inundated with artificial supply from sprinklers.  This can be found out the hard way when oak trees die and fall because of sprinklers installed by a previous owner and/or builder.

Having learned of this, Planning Commission member Karen Bristow told the paper that she was "frosted" (that is, angry) because she and her colleagues were not told that the city's arborist came to a different conclusion than the applicant's arborist.  Clearly, there may have been a different decision from the commission about that particular point if full disclosure had been made. 

Bristow also made the comment that the city did not appear to reject any projects--a suggestion, apparently, that staff analysis and reporting may reflect an "institutional culture" that works for developers and against anyone who opposes projects, even on reasonable grounds.

This oak tree, dating at least back to the Great Depression years of the mid-1930s, is threatened with demolition as part of a proposed house project on Rosemary Lane in Sleepy Hollow.  At a 4 March meeting, Chino Hills Community Development Department staff only gave the city's Planning Commission the finding of the applicant's arborist that the tree was diseased and needed to be destroyed.  This, despite the fact that the city's own arborist, back in January, found the tree to be in average health--information not presented to the commission as it further deliberated and decided upon this project.

This, by the way, is definitely an issue for any government entity, be it city or county, that is in an environment where so-called "pro-growth" and intensive private property rights attitudes and the powerful lobbying efforts (or generous campaign donations) of the Building Industry Association and other proponents are most manifest.  Certainly, one house in Carbon Canyon is not a problem, compared to, say, 162 houses at Madrona in Brea or a pending application for 107 houses just east of Sleepy Hollow.

Neither is this issue fundamentally just about a single, 80-year old oak tree--although the oak preservation ordinance passed by the city was a reasonable attempt to protect mature trees that are a major symbolic statement about the city and, certainly, of Carbon Canyon, which is studded with them.

Rather, this matter is essentially about due diligence, transparency, and responsibility.  City staff erred significantly in falling far short of full disclosure.  Community Development Department personnel knew that the city's arborist had a contrary view and, more importantly, he is the city's arborist.  His professional findings should, therefore, be the findings of his employer, the City of Chino Hills and its Community Development Department.

For staff to accept the results of a report of an arborist paid for the owners in contradiction to the city's own arborist and then to fail to provide full disclosure about this to the Planning Commission, is where the problem here lies. 

It simply raises a matter of trust.  How can the Planning Commission feel that it can have faith in city staff to provide the necessary and required information about a project in light of a revelation such as this?

At a city council meeting in Temple City this Tuesday, this very issue came up.  On discussion about public transit services, a council member expressed concern that staff had not provided information that would help the council make an informed decision about which vendor to hire.

Community Development director Joann Lombardo was quoted as offering two different rationales for the failure to properly inform the commission of the issues on the tree's removal.  On one hand, she stated that the project's integrity was compromised by the tree's existence because of the physical orientation of the lot, including where the septic system's leach lines are plotted to go.  Then she said that the delay in creating the administrative policy for the oak ordinance left staff without the proper structure for dealing with the tree and mitigation upon removal.

The first point is not necessarily an invalid one, but it still doesn't address the problem of not properly informing the commission of the fundamental issue. 

The second point might be valid for this particular project, but reveals another problem--why did it take staff so long to implement the policy to protect oaks, especially when the improving economy and housing market was leading to a return in project submissions within the city?

Finally, even if the commission approved the home's design in October, the process wasn't done.  Hence, the 4 March hearing before the commission.  If staff had done their due diligence and properly informed the commission of the city arborist's findings regarding this oak tree, there could very well have been a different result that evening.

Given the failure of Ms. Lombardo and her staff to properly provide all relevant information to the commission at its hearing in early March, is it possible for this project to be halted and the commission given the opportunity to go back and review, with all full disclosure as should have been done in the first place, and then make a better, more informed decision?

This is not about being against having a home built on what has been an empty and often unsightly lot.  A beautiful, new residence that conforms to the topography of the lot and which does not compromise Rosemary Lane's route and which preserves whatever reasonably can be of any of its landscape, including a mature oak that has been there since at least the mid-1930s is more than welcome.

Again, this is not about the tree, it is about the process and the failure of due diligence and full disclosure.

The project cannot be properly evaluated, deliberated upon, and decided upon without these.

Let the Planning Commission reopen this case, with all available information properly presented, and then make a well-informed and reasonable decision.  That's all anyone can ask.

On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #15679?

Not sure whether this was a recent accident damaging both ends of a guardrail on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road between Canyon Hills Road and Canon Lane on the Chino Hills portion of the canyon or if it was damage done in the wreck that took place a month or so ago.

In any case, it is another example of activity that has taken place on the state highway within the last few months.

Notably, the Champion, in its latest edition, carried an article about the use of Carbon Canyon Road by large trucks and the concern that these larger vehicles poses risks on the two-lane roadway, particularly at the S-curve near Carriage Hills. 

A resident of that subdivision snapped a photo and expressed alarm about the increased use of the highway by trucks, while a spokesperson for the Sheriff's Department station in Chino Hills remarked that there haven't been problems from its point of view (though that view is not supported by regular appearances in the canyon.)

This question came to a head within the last several weeks when a big rig literally got stuck along the S-curve and had to be towed out--causing a closure of the road for a few hours.

There are "advisory signs" warning vehicles of more than 30 feet in length about the road, but that's all they do is suggest, which is pretty much true of most signs along Carbon Canyon Road like "No Passing" or "25 MPH".  Without enforcement, signs are just two-dimensional pieces of metal that lack any real authority.

What was surprising in the article was to find Chino Hills council member Ed Graham indicating he would bring up the matter of having CalTrans ban certain sized vehicles, though the problem is that Carbon Canyon Road is a state highway and, as such, there may be nothing that can be done to keep large trucks from using the road.

As discussed here a couple of times before, however, is the possibility of doing what happened with a stretch of State Highway 39 along Hacienda Road in La Habra Heights and Hacienda Heights, where that two-lane portion was decommissioned as a state highway and reverted to local control.

Whether Brea and Chino Hills would want to pursue such an action and take full responsibility for maintaining and policing (the latter being largely theoretical, as neither really fulfills that duty which they are supposed to uphold) their portions of Carbon Canyon Road is another matter, but might be something council member Graham would want to discuss at a future Chino Hills City Council meeting.

Even More Carbon Canyon History from The Champion

The third installment of Carbon Canyon history in the "Rolltop Roundup" column from Allen McCombs, publisher emeritus of The Champion has two aspects of the canyon's past that have been featured on this blog before.  One, however, has far greater detail in McCombs' column, this being the founding of Western Hills Country Club and the story of its founder, Shelly [Shelley] Martin Stoody, who made his money in manufacturing materials out of metal alloys, but was also a patent holder for items dealing with cattle and other animals.

McCombs related that Stoody created his "Double S" (Shelley Stoody, presumably) in the early 1950s to breed Hereford cattle and made it a success in short order.  Stoody, it was noted, looked down upon his domain "from his house atop the summit," which might well mean the house which sits surrounded by a few dozen palm trees that is on the hill directly east of Western Hills.

The "Double S" had a show ring, but also an air strip for his private plane.  Unfortunately for Stoody and his passengers, an attempt to land the plane on the ranch in late June 1961 was altered by a gust of wind and the Beechcraft plowed into the hillside a short distance from the strip, which was below his home.  Stoody and two passengers died instantly and the third passenger died later in the hospital.

After Stoody's death, the ranch was sold to a syndicate of physicians from Orange County, who paid $600,000 for the property and, in 1966, opened Western Hills.

A little research about Stoody yielded some interesting information about him.  He was born 20 March 1899 in Union, Ohio, just northwest of Dayton, and his father Charles was a carpenter and then a machinist and blacksmith who specialized in repair work.   By the time young Shelley registered for the draft in 1918 during the First World War, the Stoodys had relocated to Huntington, West Virginia, near the borders with Ohio and Kentucky, and Shelley and his older brother Winston worked as machinists for their father.

In 1921, Shelley Stoody, recently relocated to Whittier, opened up a welding company called Stoody-Rice, but soon took in as partners his father and brother and renamed the firm the Stoody Welding Company.   By 1926, the company was simply known as the Stoody Company, but Winston had become president, Charles served as vice-president and Shelley was the secretary and treasurer.  The elder Stoody soon retired but his sons continued to run the business with Shelley assuming the role of vice-president when his father stepped down. 

Initially, the business was built to supply farm and tractor repair services, but the developing oil boom in Whittier and surrounding areas led to a quick refocusing of the repair of drill bits for oil prospecting.  The firm operated for decades on Slauson Avenue near Sorensen in the southwest part of town and Shelley lived in comfortable homes in northwest Whittier and then on a hillside behind Whittier College.  By 1940, however, he had a $75,000 residence in the hills of what was then called North Whittier Heights, later Hacienda Heights.  After World War II, he relocated to a Palos Verdes Estates hilltop home, built in 1931, of almost 8,000 square feet on an acre lot.

In 1948, Stoody achieved some notoriety for buying a $25,000 helicopter for his commute from the peninsula to Whittier (cutting his travel time down from 1 1/2 hours by car to only 20 minutes by copter.)  He was, in fact, a longtime pilot, having been an early aviator in Whittier, where he began his flying career in 1926, and he had a private plane at the airport in Torrance when he moved to the PV Estates.  A Los Angeles Times article reported that he planned to build a helipad and hangar at his residence as well as at his business.

The increased wealth that allowed Stoody to live in Palos Verdes came from a patented process for more durable drill bits called "hardfacing," essentially creating an overlay coating of abrasion-resistant alloys welded onto the bits.  Two products, "Stoodite," which was the first cast hardfacing rods and "Borium" the first use of tungsten carbide (the Stoody Company had a tungsten mine in the Mojave Desert from the late 1920s) for hardfacing, were innovations by the firm, which also was a pioneer the "submerged arc welding" process, in which the molten weld and arc zone have a compound of manganese oxide, silica, lime, calcium fluoride and other materials to protect the product from contamination.  The financial windfall from his business allowed the entrepreneur to buy the 426-acre spread in Carbon Canyon that he called the "Double S" and Stoody also owned a cattle ranch in Nevada.

A Times article from 27 June 1961 provided further details of the crash, including the sad fact that his wife witnessed the tragedy from a window in their hillside ranch house.  Evidently, the plane circled the private landing strip several times, came in for a landing and then Stoody abruptly tried to pull the plane up before nosing into the hillside.  In addition to Stoody, who was then 61, the other passengers were Tom Leroy Brown, a 31-year old ranch employee who left behind seven children; 21-year old Arkansas cattle rancher John Starr; and 56-year old Melvin Kibbler of Norwalk, who died of his injuries several days after the accident.   Stoody left behind his wife, daughter and son and it is assumed that they sold the ranch to the developers of Western Hills.

As to the Stoody Company, it continued on with Stoody's brother Winston dying in 1967 and the firm relocating to the City of Industry in the mid-1970s.  There were three purchases of the company in the late 1970s through late 1980s, the last by Thermadyne, which moved the subsidiary to Bowling Green, Kentucky, a little more than 20 years ago and where it still operates (naturally, Thermadyne was acquired in 2010 by a private equity firm.)  Notably, in 2005, Stoody and the federal Environmental Protection Agency came to a $413,000 settlement over releases on degreasing solvents from its City of Industry plant, which was in a very large Superfund site within the city and surrounding areas.

The other anecdote shared in the column was one that was given extensive coverage here back in 2008, this being the strange story of the February 1958 manhunt and capture of Lester Dean Bonds, who killed an Ontario police detective at an isolated cabin in Soquel Canyon, near, McCombs wrote, the Aeroject munitions testing facility where the Vellano gated housing community and country club are now.  The detective was looking to search the cabin on the belief that stolen goods were concealed there.  Bonds, a Mississippi-born drifter who had been released from Patton State Hospital, a mental health facility still in San Bernardino, had broken into the cabin because he was homeless.  When the detective, named Grower, knocked on the door, Bonds grabbed a gun left behind and fired upon opening the door, killing the officer.  He then escaped heading north into Carbon Canyon, where the gun belt was found.

The version given by McCombs is not much different from that related on this blog, though the family that was startled to find Bonds lying on their sofa in his skivvies and smoking cigarettes he casually took from the house were spending their first night after having moved to Sleepy Hollow from Fresno.

As noted before, the head of the household Bill Squires calmly confronted the wanted killer, served him some coffee and offered to get him a beer from a local store, this being the old tavern and store where Carbon Canyon Road intersects with Rosemary Lane in Sleepy Hollow on the south side of the state highway (this establishment had been opened by David Tidwell back in the 1920s.)  Once Squires got to the store, he had the owner call the police, returned home with the beer, threw Bonds' gun outside and, with his wife, engaged the murderer in conversation until authorities arrived.

Bonds was arrested without incident, was determined to be insane upon examination and was sent back to the Patton facility instead of standing trial.

Presumably, McCombs has more to tell of Carbon Canyon's history when the next issue of the paper comes out on Saturday.

More Carbon Canyon History From The Champion: The Chino Hills Airport Plan

Allen McCombs, publisher emeritus of The Champion, offered up two more tidbits of Carbon Canyon history in last Saturday's edition of his "Rolltop Roundup."  One concerned a 1967 bus accident on the infamous S-curve along Carbon Canyon Road near today's Summit Ranch and Carriage Hills subdivisions.  The other detailed a proposal in the early 1970s for a massive airport within the Telegraph Canyon area of the Chino Hills just south of Carbon Canyon.

McCombs observed that an Orange County developer teamed up with a former Los Angeles International Airport executive and a retired colonel from the Marines to propose taking 25,000 acres, with less than 40% of it earmarked for the airport and support facilities, for the project, which would have leveled Gilman Peak and San Juan Hill, the two highest points in the vicinity, and filling in the canyon. 

He further noted that there were two 12,000-foot runways for commercial and private use in the works and that nearly $400 million was "lined up" for the land and the building of the airport.  There was an idea of extending the Century Freeway (Interstate 105, which was not actually built until the 1990s, and is very likely the last major freeway that will be constructed in the region) to the project site and on to Ontario International Airport.

McCombs also stated that a joint powers authority including Anaheim, Chino, Garden Grove, Stanton and Santa Ana promoted the project along with its developers, while opposition (a predecessor, it was claimed, of Hope for the Hills) included a group called PATCH (Prevent Airport Traffic in Chino Hills) was formed to fight the airport plan.

More detail about this remarkable plan can be added, thanks to articles from the Los Angeles Times between late 1971 and early 1980.  Firstly, the big push for the project came from Anaheim's mayor Jack Dutton, who was able to get enough votes from the city council to align the city with the developer for the joint powers authority.  Anaheim's weight convinced, it appears, Chino and the abovementioned cities to come aboard, though for quite some time it was just the first two municipalities who were the mainstays of the authority.

Among the quirkier aspects of the project?  One proposed name, presumably from the folks in Anaheim, was to name the airport after Walt Disney.  Then again, look at the name change bestowed upon the Orange County Airport.  Another wacky idea was a proposal floated in summer 1973 by Dutton, allegedly raised by a Chamber of Commerce member whose name the mayor supposedly couldn't remember, to take silt from the Prado Dam area along the Santa Ana River and use it as fill for Telegraph Canyon via a five-mile long conveyor belt.

The big question was whether supporters of the airport concept could get Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval, conditionally or otherwise, for the plan and whether the FAA would deem the project worthy of receiving the critical federal funding that would give the airport plan a chance.

Although original plans were actually for FOUR long runways oriented east-west and some 500,000 annual commercial and private flights, which raised considerable hackles on the part of many people, but also every city near the project, EXCEPT Chino, the promoters scaled back the proposal significantly to the two runways at a southeast/northwest configuration and 120,000 flights per year.  Consequently, in June 1972, the FAA actually gave conditional approval to the project, pending, however, the completion of a satisfactory environmental impact report.  A June 1973 report by the state Department of Aeronautics envisioned that there would be over 19 million passengers by 1995 and nearly 22 million by 2000, though it was stated that 60% of those would be for short-haul flights.

Stirred to action, an interesting mix of environmentalist, Republican lawmakers, city officials, and nearby residents sought a number of ways to fight the airport plan.  Yorba Linda, looking to hold off Anaheim's ambitions to potentially annex the airport site and exercise more control over the property began to look into its own annexation plans, which were realized by 1978.  Elected state representatives were able to secure a report in 1973 criticizing the plan for many reasons, including its location on a major active earthquake fault (indeed, moderate size quakes have been rather common in the area in recent years.)  One was able to get, in 1974, passage of a bill to put the airport question on the state election ballot. 

Notably, a movement was galvanized, as early as spring 1972, by the airport project proposal to set aside land in the Chino Hills for some form of preservation, including the important work of Claire Schlotterbeck and the Hills for Everyone organization among others.  Initial discussions involved a staggering 68,000 acres of land, later pared down to 35,0000 acres and then again to about a third of that, as the worsening state economy in the 1970s tempered hopes for a huge land acquisition.  Still, by the early 1980s, the state legislature earmarked almost $13 million for acquisition of land (the state's parks department identified Chino Hills, Tonner Canyon and Aliso Canyon as key local areas for purchase, but decided that the first was the best option) and Chino Hills State Park was soon created.

There were some significant changes to the aims and ambitions of the airport's allies when voters in Anaheim turned out Mayor Dutton and two council members in the 1974 election and the incoming members of that body quickly reversed the city's support of the project.  Though Chino and other cities hung on with the joint powers authority, an FAA ruling, also in 1974, that federal funding would not be applicable to the proposed project was likely the death knell for the idea.  Yet, the specter of reviving the airport concept did linger for a bit longer.

It's easy to look back now, four decades or so later, and snicker at what seems like a ridiculous proposal.  However, there was still that air of unimpeded progress that animated and drove some people's thoughts when it came to urban planning. 

It's worth remembering that there were serious proposals made to build a Route 39 Freeway along Beach Boulevard from Huntington Beach and right through the Puente Hills into the San Gabriel Valley to a terminus just short of the San Gabriel Mountains.  Other considerations for a regional airport included off-site locations at San Clemente or San Pedro, as well as the El Toro Marine Corps facility, a site at Rancho California near Temecula, and others.  Look at how much effort has been (and, likely, will again be) directed towards trying to extend the 241 toll road to San Clemente through state park land from its current terminus in Mission Viejo.

Finally, look at what could still be in store for Carbon Canyon with proposals for hundreds more homes coming to both Brea (an appeal for the Madrona/Canyon Crest development of 165 houses) and Chino Hills (a pending application for some 200 units south of Carbon Canyon Road at Canyon Hills Road.)

Development pressures will be a fact of life for those in and around Carbon Canyon.  What seemed fantastic and, perhaps, absurd four decades ago seems like a relic of a bygone era, but whatever enlightenment has set upon us since is still subject to those pressures.  The spirit of the movements to create Chino Hills State Park, fight the TRTP Towers of Terror, and shut down the Chinese maternity home are going to be needed for other battles to come.

Quaint as the Chino Hills Airport proposal seems today, there's a different level of audacity still at work in a Carbon Canyon that remains vulnerable to unsuitable and unsustainable development.

Chino Hills Maternity Hotel Restraining Order

UPDATE, 18 January: Tomorrow's edition of the Champion reported that the court hearing held yesterday regarding the "Los Angeles Hermas Hotel" and requiring property owners Hai Yong Wu and Yi Wang to appear and explain why a temporary order closing the facility and prohibiting any further changes to the house ended without the owners making an appearance.  Wu was said to still be in China, so the new judge Keith Davis, granted a 30-day extension on the hearing, now scheduled for 19 February.

In last week's Champion, it was reported by reporter Marianne Napoles that a 27 December temporary restraining order, banning further construction and remodeling as well as operating of a hotel in violation of Chino Hills city codes, was issued by a county judge preventing the "maternity hotel" that has been operating on a hilltop house overlooking the east end of the Carbon Canyon corridor from continuing business.

Property owners Hai Yong Wu and Yi Wang were ordered to appear before the court this coming week, on 17 January, to contest the issuance of the injunction.  Meanwhile, Napoles noted that the residence in which the "Los Angeles Hermas Hotel" [it would be interesting, maybe, to know what "Hermas" refers to, given that its usual connotation is as a given name and there is an old Christian tale about a "Shepherd of Hermas"] had been operating has been vacant for several weeks.

A Frank Smith, Wu's representative was quoted by Napoles as saying that Wu was working with the City to address code violation issues and suggested that the house was actually in compliance with city codes because of its floor plan and that any work done did not require removal.  Rather, Smith claimed, he recommended vacating the structure because of the issue of inadequate septic system capacity. 

And, yet, if the maintenance of the fundamental floor plan alone is justifiable by Smith's interesting application of logic, then any alterations to the plan that overload the septic system's capacity is somehow logically disconnected even though the added bathrooms within the floor plan were connected to the overburdened septic tank?

For a 5 January Los Angeles Times article on this, click here.  Another Times piece on maternity hotels generally and referring to the Chino Hills example can be found here and there is a further link embedded in that article to a fuller version that appeared in the 3 January print edition.

Happy 125th Birthday to the Chino Hills Champion

The newspaper industry has seen a precipitous decline in recent years and who knows where the whole concept will be in five, ten or fifty years, so it is all the more remarkable that the independent and local Chino/Chino Hills Champion is not only 125 years old this year, but is still viable and valid (at least it is to some of us.)

The Champion does a great job of covering local news, provides editorial balance, and emphasizes the community aspects of the cities of Chino and Chino Hills in ways that just are not seen that much any more and the achievement of its publishers and staff cannot be overstated.

The newest issue, out this past weekend, is also chock full of interesting historical material, including some pertaining to Carbon Canyon, though reading about local history generally is pretty cool.  With publisher emeritus Allen McCombs providing the bulk of the material about the history of the area, it makes the Champion that much more valuable.

So, congratulations to everyone at the Champion for continuing the long tradition of excellence and may the paper last at least 125 more years.