City of Industry’s new city council has suspended the potential sale of Tres Hermanos Ranch until it examines all the major policy challenges it faces.
New city manager Paul Philips told the Champion Wednesday that the successor agency to the city’s former redevelopment agency owns the land and will decide in 60 to 90 days what should be done with it.
The successor agency consists of the City of Industry city council.
The decision will go before the oversight board, and then to the State Department of Finance for approval.
Mr. Philips said although a broker was selected to market the property, the contract was not signed. “There was never a listing,” he said.
The broker, selected by the oversight board, was The Hoffman Co., based in Irvine.
“I told the broker to go on hold until a determination is made,” Mr. Philips said. “The process has been suspended pending direction from the new council.”
Tres Hermanos consists of 2,400 acres of open grassland, oaks and sycamores straddling both sides of Grand Avenue, including 1,700 acres in Chino Hills and 720 acres in Diamond Bar.
Mr. Philips said the previous city council was serious about selling the land, but the new council has yet to decide.
The June election yielded three new council members. Mr. Philips was hired June 25.
The Hoffman Co. had begun its marketing efforts by visiting the community development departments of both Chino Hills and Diamond Bar.
A grass-roots group called “Save Tres Hermanos” formed to oppose residential development.
Mr. Philips said he made a commitment to the city council that City of Industry would be open, transparent and a good neighbor. “That’s the way I like to operate,” he said.
Mr. Philips is a former city manager for Covina, Artesia and others. His most recent position was deputy director for California Contract Cities Association in Downey, which advocates for cities that contract for municipal services.
The 12.5-square-mile City of Industry has a population of just 469 and 69,040 jobs, mainly in manufacturing and wholesale, according to a 2015 profile prepared by Southern California Association of Governments.
Tres Hermanos Ranch was purchased by the City of Industry’s redevelopment agency in 1978. In 2012, the state dissolved all redevelopment agencies and Tres Hermanos was transferred to the “successor agency,” which is governed by an “oversight board” made up of three county employees, two school district employees, and two council members from City of Industry.
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