Last updated July 11, 2012
IMPLEMENTATION of HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE 2008-2014
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR AFFORDABLE HOUSING LAND USE AND ZONING DESIGNATION PROJECT
In 2011, the City of Diamond Bar City Council adopted its 2008-2014 Housing Element Update, which was subsequently certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as meeting all requirements of state law.
2008-2014 Housing Element
Implementation of the Housing Element requires that the City process amendments to its General Plan and Development Code in compliance with state laws addressing affordable housing. Specifically, the Housing Element Implementation Project would involve amending the City’s General Plan (including its Land Use Plan Map) and Development Code (Title 22 and including its associated Zoning Map) to establish a new multiple-family zone district and designate adequate sites that could accommodate new multi-family affordable housing development commensurate with the City’s assigned fair share needs.
Although the implementation of the Housing Element would designate specific sites where multi-family housing could be developed in the future, there is no specific development projects associated with the proposed rezoning effort at this time.
The City of Diamond Bar will be the Lead Agency and is currently in the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to evaluate the environmental impacts that could result from the rezoning and potential future development, and identify ways to reduce impacts if development were to occur.
The key focus of the EIR will be an objective environmental evaluation of candidate parcels for rezoning to accommodate future housing needs as required by State Housing Element law. More specifically, the City of Diamond Bar is obligated to rezone at least 16.3 net acres, at a density of 30 dwelling units per acre, in order to satisfy our Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) obligation to accommodate the development of 490 lower-income dwelling units.
Vacant parcels in the vicinity of Diamond Ranch High School, west of Chino Hills Parkway have been identified as key opportunity sites for this purpose, as shown in the Notice of Preparation. An expanded copy of the Notice of Preparation, detailing the scope of the EIR, may be reviewed here: Notice of Preparation
This area is part of a larger area known as Tres Hermanos, which is owned by the City of Industry. The study area encompasses approximately 80 acres, and two potential development areas (Site A and Site B) within the study area will be evaluated in the EIR. Each site is approximately 30 acres and only one of the sites is proposed to be designated and rezoned for multi-family housing.
A scoping meeting for the public was held on Thursday, June 21, 2012. Staff prepared a FAQ handout, compiling all the questions that were asked. Download the FAQ Handout.
The draft EIR is expected to be available later this fall.
Additional documents for review:
- City Letter August 20, 2008, HCD Letter October 21, 2008
- City Letter June 3, 2009, HCD Letter August 4, 2009
- City Letter October 21, 2009, HCD Letter January 4, 2010
- City Letter November 16, 2010, HCD Letter January 18, 2011
- City Lettter May 17, 2010, HCD Letter July 22, 2010
- RHNA Appeals Board Minutes April 30, 2007
Contact Information:
Grace S. Lee, Senior Planner
909.839.7032
planning@diamondbarca.gov