Honda Site Plans Face Longer Wait with Stadium Uncertainties

Diamond Bar is still in the waiting game for a football stadium at the .

As a result, the city council will vote Tuesday night on an extension of a moratorium placed on new land-use permitting at the site of the , expecting that an adjacent stadium could influence the best use of the site.

The moratorium would bar any permits from being issued for the property for an additional 10 months and 15 days after .

City Manager Jim DeStefano said in March that the city is looking to prepare development plans for the stadium as well as an industrial park previously planned on the adjacent property in the city of Industry.

DeStefano said that development next to a stadium project could allow for the city to create unique incentives for a developer, like allowing zoning for taller buildings since the land would not be adjacent to a residential area.

, Diamond Bar has now selected a consulting firm to help assess the likelihood of the Grand Crossing stadium's completion.

For now, Diamond Bar is biding its time with any plans for the Honda property.

"With the recent announcement of a competing downtown Los Angeles stadium proposal and NFL labor negotiations ongoing, there is some uncertainty about the status of the stadium in the City of Industry," Mayor Steve Tye said during his State of the City Address last week. "Unfortunately, this leaves much of Diamond Bar's development potential in limbo as well."

Tye said that patience is key at this point as development following the construction of a stadium project "could provide significant general fund dollars for decades to come."

"We have long stressed that any project must meet the characteristics of Diamond Bar," Tye said. "but a neighboring stadium means that we must be ready to take advantage of such a unique economic opportunity."

City documents specify that the goal for the former Honda site is to "(i)dentify and implement development opportunities for the former Honda dealership property that will result in the greatest net benefit to the community."

Tuesday night's city council meeting begins at 6 p.m. A public hearing on the Honda dealership site will begin at 6:45 p.m. or shortly thereafter, according to the meeting agenda.