Residents of Diamond Bar Will Develop General Plan

Residents of Diamond Bar, the county’s newest city, will take the first step this week toward developing a general plan that will tackle escalating concerns over traffic congestion and development.

Thirty Diamond Bar residents, chosen by the City Council, and Councilmen Gary Werner and Gary Miller will meet Thursday night as the city’s general plan committee. They will be responsible for drafting the plan, which is expected to take up to two years.

City Manager Robert Van Nort, who will preside over most of the committee meetings, said he foresees a lengthy, sometimes grueling process of dividing the group into subcommittees to address the environment, traffic, housing, earthquake safety and other issues affecting the city of 47,000.

Traffic through Diamond Bar, and devising methods to control it, has always been a rallying point in the community, and the plan is expected to reflect the city’s firm stand against traffic congestion.

When San Bernardino County officials extended Grand Avenue to Diamond Bar before the city was incorporated, Los Angeles County feared that the road would bring thousands of additional cars to the area from the rapidly growing community of Chino Hills. So Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum responded by having a fence and wooden barricades.