Development of Honda Site Further Delayed

The former Diamond Bar Honda building will likely remain vacant until April 2013 while the futures of a football stadium and a freeway ramp are determined.

Council members voted Tuesday to extend an urgency ordinance approved last month. The ordinance placed a moratorium on the issuance of land use permits for property on the northwest corner of the Highway 60 and Grand Avenue interchange.

The Honda dealership vacated the property in 2008, just as Caltrans began plans to construct a direct westbound onramp to the 60 Freeway at Grand Avenue, city officials said. Land use is further complicated by a proposed NFL stadium project that could be built on adjacent property, officially in the city of Industry.

“Consequently, the viability of the site to attract stable land uses that will benefit both the property owners and the City of Diamond Bar is unclear at this time,” Greg Gubman, Community Development Director, wrote in a report to the council. “Because of its prominent, freeway-adjacent location, proper development of the site is critically important to the City for reasons including, but not limited to, aesthetics, services available to Diamond Bar residents, and economic impacts on residents and the City itself.”

Staffers will take the next year to study zoning regulations and marketing strategies for the property, Grubman told the council.

“We hope to come back to the Planning Commission and then the City Council with a zoning ordinance that would be applicable to the Honda property,” Grubman said.

Plans for the onramp would slice off just under an acre of land from the current property. However, under an agreement with Industry, the granting of right-of-way to a stadium -- proposed northwest of the old Honda facility -- would offset the loss.

The city has been extending permit moratoriums since last year while it explores the best use of the property.