Powder Canyon Update

by Roland vom Dorp

The General Plan of La Habra Heights includes special provisions for our most spectacular piece of open space, the Powder Canyon Significant Ecological Area. The "SEA" was established by Los Angeles County 20 years ago as the only SEA in the County with a self-contained watershed. With the intent of preserving this key asset, the General Plan specifically states that the total number of homes allowed on the parcel may be clustered in a corner of Powder Canyon. This provision is intended to protect the SEA from intrusive building.

Powder Canyon is a valuable economic resource because it acts as a "buffer zone" between our homes and the more unsightly urban areas to the north and east. It also may provide recreational possibilities in the future that could enhance the quality of life and the maintenance of property values in La Habra Heights.

Forum Country Clubs, the owner of Powder Canyon, intends to re-submit a project similar to the one rejected by the voters at the polls in November 1993. A representative of Forum met with members of the La Habra Heights Water District and the Rowland Water District on February 3, 1995 to discuss the resubmission. To get this project approved, the developer needs only three votes of the City Council.

In 1993, Forum could not muster these votes because two Council members who were in favor of the project removed themselves from the voting for potential or actual conflicts-of-interest. The project did not have the unanimous support of the remaining three Council members, which forced the issue to a vote of residents, resulting in the proposal's overwhelming defeat.

La Habra Heights and the Powder Canyon developer have alternatives other than flattening the hilltops, filling in the canyon bottoms, and building a golf course. Development according to the General Plan, which means clustered housing and no golf course, is one option.

Alternatively, the owner may choose to sell the land to the "Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority," an organization formed last Fall by the cities of Whittier, La Habra Heights, Brea, and Diamond Bar. This body has the status of a "Joint Powers Authority," or JPA.

JPAs are a legal mechanism that allows cities to combine their resources for a specified purpose. For example, La Habra Heights belongs to a "Joint Powers Insurance Authority," which it joined in the mid-1980s. The JPIA allows the City to purchase insurance at a cheaper rate through a group policy for over 60 cities. In land use decisions that affect the entire region, member cities are better able to protect their own interests and priorities within their own boundaries by joining a JPA.

The Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority evolved out of the Wildlife Corridor Study Group. This group, which included both private citizens and public officials, was formed after a symposium on regional land-use held at Whittier College in March 1994. The purpose of the symposium was to evaluate how the open space stretching from Whittier to Diamond Bar might best plan for future growth and development.

The Study Group also sought to identify the appropriate perimeter of the open space wildlife corridor that runs from Whittier to Hacienda Heights, La Habra Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut, Diamond Bar, Brea, Yorba Linda, Chino Hills, Anaheim, Corona and southward into the Cleveland National Forest. Powder Canyon in La Habra Heights is a crucial link between the western and southern parts of this open space.

Wildlife corridors offer significant natural amenities to the communities they border. Cities belonging to the JPA are attempting to preserve these open spaces for the enjoyment of their residents and the enhancement of their communities. Other members of the JPA are the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Fish and Game, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and two public members: Claire Slotterbeck from Chino Hills and Steve Feld from the Hacienda Heights Improvement Association.

If the Powder Canyon developer decides to sell his property to the Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would provide park rangers for security and maintenance of Powder Canyon. Residents would have recreational access to the area for a variety of outdoor activities such as horseback riding and walking. Powder Canyon would remain as open space in perpetuity.

Meetings of the Wildlife Conservation Corridor Authority are open to the public.