City Files Civil Suit Against Shell Station Owners

Tired of waiting for promised renovations, Diamond Bar is moving forward with a civil lawsuit against the owners of the former Shell station on Palomino Drive.

The city has been pushing for the owners to renovate the building for more than two years. There had been plans to turn the building into a mini-market and car wash.

But money issues with contractors and design plans slowed progress to what appears to officials and residents as a crawl and now the building sits in an obvious need of work along Diamond Bar Boulevard, a one of the city’s main streets.

The City Council voted to take legal action and a file civil suit to force the owners to take action to improve the condition of the property. They are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 29.

“The process is dragging out longer than we would like,” said Diamond Bar City Manager James DeStefano. “But there are a number of steps that need to be undertaken in order to be successful. And we are now in the court process. The court date of Aug. 29 is later than we would have preferred.”

Co-owner 2011 that they had expected the work to be done by that summer. A building permit had expired, but was extended that April. But the extension expired in December.

While some work was done on the former gas station, city officials say it’s not enough and is an eyesore.

"We get a lot of complaints," Greg Gubman, the city's community development director told on Dec. 28. “People are getting impatient. It's just so unsightly and not keeping with the Diamond Bar image."