The International Buddhist Progress Society has proposed an expansion of its Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights. The project is being processed through the County of Los Angeles.  The project site is located west of South Hacienda Boulevard, directly across the Boulevard from the existing Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple (Temple), which is located at 3456 Glenmark Drive.  The uses of the proposed 143,671 square-foot expansion include 17 buildings concentrated on the northern portion of the site which include meditation halls of various sizes, classrooms and other instructional spaces, dormitories of various sizes, administrative offices, multifunctional recreational spaces, and a seven-level subterranean garage.

Los Angeles County first began to inventory biotic resources and identify important areas of biological diversity in the 1970s.  Today, the primary mechanism used by the County to conserve biological diversity is a planning overlay called Significant Ecological Areas (SEAs) designated in the County’s General Plan. Together the General Plan overlay, and the SEA conditional use permit process, are referred to as the SEA Program.

1)      At the February 15, 2011 HOSEC Steering Committee, we discussed the re-submittal of the AERA property to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) M2 freeway mitigation program. The property was dropped earlier due to the property owner not providing an adequate “willing seller” letter to OCTA.  Because land prices are at a low point, OCTA is exploring combining the two phases of acquisition of open space into one funding cycle, so they reopened the process.  The City of Brea submitted AERA a second time with the permission of AERA and it was evaluated and again came out very high on the list of potential high value acquisitions from an environmental perspective. AERA has not op ...

The renewed Measure M program, referred to as Measure M2, is a sales tax measure passed by Orange County voters in November of 2006 and continued the existing sales tax for transportation improvements started with the original Measure M.

HOSEC was created and operates as a unique example of a regional collaborative partnership formed to offer information and options for open space preservation in the Puente-Chino Hills land area. The cities of Brea, La Habra, La Habra Heights, Whittier, and the community associations of Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights are working together across county boundaries on this important issue.

On October 1, 2008, HOSEC representatives had the opportunity to make a presentation to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Environmental Oversight Committee in an attempt to acquire funding to purchase open space. On November 7, 2006, nearly 70% of O.C. voters approved the renewal of Measure M, a half-cent local transportation sales tax.  Of the $11.8 billion in revenue anticipated revenue from Renewed Measure M, $243.5 million has been designated to mitigate the environmental impacts of freeway improvements through the Mitigation and Resource Protection Program.  The purpose of the Environmental Oversight Committee is to make recommendations to the Board of Directors on the allocation of environmental freeway miti ...

County Officials, Environmental Groups and Area Residents Oppose the Action Despite opposition from Los Angeles County officials, environmental groups, and area residents, the City of Diamond Bar City Council approved a planning and pre-annexation agreement with Aera Energy at its December 19, 2006 City Council meeting.

Aera Energy is a subsidiary of Shell-Mobil Oil Company and is pursuing a master-planned housing and commercial development of approximately 3,600 homes, commercial center, golf course, and parks. The land is approximately 70% within Los Angeles County and 30% within Orange County. The site, often referred to as the “missing middle," is important as it is in the heart of land already preserved for open space.  The Aera site has an extremely important overlay in Los Angeles County that creates a thorough review process for any development to occur. Much of the Aera property has an overlay that is called a Significant Ecological Area, resulting in the acronym SEA. That means the area proposed for development has biological and habi ...

You'll find this unique trail offers more than just a hike into the hills. There are stops along the way to ease the 275-foot vertical climb that invite you to look into the past, understand the present and imagine the future.