LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today hosted a press conference to celebrate the recently approved allocation of $28,250,000 for the Puente Hills County Regional Park Development Project.

The approval of $28,250,000 for the Puente Hills Regional Park comes at the direction of Supervisor Solis through a motion she spearheaded and was unanimously approved at yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. That action brings total funding to almost $110,000,000 which will allow the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation to begin the design phase for the Puente Hills Regional Park and construct Phase 1.

“The Puente Hills Landfill was once the largest operating landfill in the United States, and in the 1990s, there was a push to expand the landfill’s operations ─ and that is when I began my fight,” said Supervisor Solis. “I grew up in La Puente, not too far from the Landfill, and I still remember the unpleasant odor and truck traffic the site had throughout my neighborhood. So, in 1994, as a member of the California State Assembly, I authored a bill that required the landfill to be converted into a park after its closure. With the approval of my motion yesterday, we are on our way to help make this a reality. The new regional park will benefit generations to come in the East San Gabriel Valley.”

The future Puente Hills Regional Park will serve a 25-mile regional area, including adjacent communities in the East San Gabriel Valley. Once completed, the future regional park will create 142-acres of new parkland that will provide diverse and recreational experiences and programming. It will be the County’s first new regional park in more than 35 years, offering a rare and significant opportunity for new parkland in the eastern portion of Los Angeles County.

“The Sanitation Districts understand that no one likes to live next to a landfill, that is why we appreciate Supervisor Solis for having the vision, roughly 30 years ago, of turning the landfill into a park to serve the local community and region,” said Robert Ferrante, General Manager of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. “The Sanitation Districts have set aside $80 million in tip fees paid by customers to help that vision become a reality.”

In 1970, the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts purchased over 1,200 acres of land in the Puente Hills canyons of the San Gabriel Valley to create a new, regional landfill known today as the Puente Hills Landfill. Under conditions laid out in a 1987 Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) entered into by the Sanitation Districts and Los Angeles County, and under Assembly Bill 2632, authored by then Assemblymember Hilda L. Solis, the Sanitation Districts were required to provide portions of the site to the County for park and recreation purposes after the landfill ceased operations. Following the settlement of recent litigation between the Sanitation Districts and Los Angeles County, the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation secured $80 million in funding and is now beginning the design phase for the Puente Hills Regional Park.

In October of 2021, after extensive negotiations, the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation reached an agreement with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGV COG) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) on the sale of 9.13 acres of Diamond Bar Golf Course for the purpose of acquiring right of way to implement the SR-57/60 Confluence Project. In accordance with the Park Preservation Act (PPA), Public Resources Code sections 5400 through 5409, the Department of Parks and Recreation, on behalf of the public interest, received compensation for $28,250,000 for the purpose of acquiring and improving substitute parkland and facilities of similar size, comparable characteristics, and similar location to provide public parks access to the impacted communities. After conducting an extensive land inventory and acquisition process for replacement parkland, the SGV COG and Metro were unable to secure replaceable parkland to meet the PPA requirements. Therefore, the Department of Parks and Recreation recommended that the $28,250,000 be used to support the development of the future Puente Hills Regional Park at the former Puente Hills Landfill, which will serve a similar purpose and role as the lost acreage of Diamond Bar Golf Course.