Lawsuit ends in $4.45M payout
San Dimas agrees to settlement of its environmental legal action over Metro light-rail parking lot
After more than six months of contentious litigation, the city of San Dimas has agreed to a $4.45 million settlement resulting from an environmental lawsuit it filed against the agency building a light-rail extension in town.
The legal wrangling, however, is expected to delay the rollout of L (formerly Gold) Line service in San Dimas.
The settlement of the August 2022 lawsuit against the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, finalizes the appraised value of the San Dimas Park and Ride Lot, which was at the center of the litigation.
The Construction Authority will now continue its condemnation of the 2.5-acre property near San Dimas Avenue and Railway Street.
The city previously claimed an environmental review of the park and ride lot next to the future station was inadequate, and cited concerns about potential increases in traffic and lack of safety measures for pedestrians and cyclists.
Under the settlement, the Construction Authority pledges $1 million in mitigation measures, including using a strip of land between Cataract Avenue and Monte Vista Avenue, north of Railway Street, for parking expansion and driveway construction to reduce traffic impacts, the city announced in a news release Wednesday.
Other notable work expected by the Construction Authority includes the installation of 100 three-hour parking signs and speed humps, the evaluation of traffic signal timing to maximize traffic flow, and cosmetic street improvements near the station.
In the city’s statement, City Manager Chris Constantin said officials were pleased with the settlement.
“The city will receive a fair value for the sale of the Park and Ride Lot, additional safeguards to reduce traffic and residential impacts, and light rail service will open in conjunction with the (L Line) project,” he said.
L.A. Metro, the county transportation agency, will operate the L Line extension from Glendora to North Pomona after completion in January 2025.
However, the Construction Authority says service in San Dimas may be delayed by the months-long litigation.
“The timing is still in jeopardy as a result of (the city’s) lawsuit,” said Habib Balian, CEO of the Construction Authority, in a statement Thursday.
While environmental lawsuits are common in major development projects, the city’s came twoand-a-half years into the 5-year build, so late that any delay could push back the start of operations, Construction Authority officials previously said.
The agency “will do all we can to try and have the San Dimas station parking catch up with the rest of the project, but we still need to negotiate a construction contract,” Balian wrote. “Once that is complete, we will know the timing for the station parking to be completed and if the San Dimas Station will be able to open with the rest of the line.”
In a testy response to San Dimas’ statement about the settlement, Balian said the city’s lawsuit used “significant staff time and resources, plus something close to $200,000 in tax-payer money to pay for lawyers and costs on both sides.”
According to Balian, a lawsuit was not necessary to settle the purchase price of the park and ride lot, nor did it yield significant mitigation measures. The Construction Authority was prepared to work with the city to overcome any hurdles, he added.
Ultimately, Balian said, the settlement netted San Dimas a “little more than $100,000 worth” of mitigation work, something the agency would have arranged collaboratively with the city anyway.
The work includes “Keep Clear” striping at one intersection,
an extended turn pocket, and modification of a parking entrance, all which the Construction Authority had previously proposed and the city had “rejected but now desires,” the agency said in a news release.
Other mitigation measures included in the settlement agreement were already planned by the Construction Authority, with no new measures imposed, according to Balian.
“We believe the money spent on these lawsuits was a waste of resources,” Balian said. “Ultimately, what we have found through years of working with many cities, is that cooperation is cheaper and more effective than litigation.”
Meanwhile, the Construction Authority will use eminent domain to buy the park and ride lot property from the city to build the L Line station. Officials previously said eminent domain is necessary to keep the project on schedule.
The city’s legal representation previously said the agency “failed to make an adequate offer for the purchase” of the parking lot and “failed to negotiate in good faith with the city.”
The $4.45 million appraised value of the property has not increased as a result of the lawsuit or settlement, according to city spokesperson Anissa Livas.
The lawsuit settlement will have no impact on the city’s downtown Specific Plan, which is currently in the planning stages, Livas said. The light-rail stop is expected to foster construction of new housing and commercial uses nearby.
The L Line runs currently runs from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Azusa Pacific University. A 12.3-mile extension from Azusa to Claremont is currently under construction, but the $2.1 billion project won’t make it past Pomona until officials can secure funds to make up for a shortfall of at least $740 million.
In a blow to the cities of Claremont and Montclair, the California State Transportation Agency left the last leg of the L Line extension out of more than $2.5 billion it awarded to 16 transit projects across the state.
Representatives of San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire cities have failed several times to secure gap funding for the project.
The Construction Authority
is set to start testing the L Line extension from Asuza to Pomona in 2024 with operations beginning in 2025.