Description:
TAHA prepared an EIR for the recently approved development of 1,250 homes, parks, commercial property, and a K-8 school on approximately 500 acres of land at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in the City of Azusa. The project site is currently home to the Monrovia Nursery Company, one of the oldest and largest horticultural operations in the country. The controversial and politically-charged project required several thousand pages of environmental documentation, covering topics from historic resources and aesthetics, to hydrology and geologic hazards. TAHA conducted public scoping meetings at the outset of the environmental process to gain input on issues important to the community and later presented the findings of the EIR to the public and the City's Planning Commission. Serving as the factual basis for the potential effects of the project, the EIR was instrumental in resolving much of the controversy surrounding the project. The planning and community involvement effort undertaken and the resulting Specific Plan was heralded as a model of New Urbanism by former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
