shell-aera

Visit our website on Shell-Aera at: www.SaveTheMissingMiddle.org

These 3,000 acres are the undeveloped hills serving as the backdrop of Brea and Rowland Heights. They encompass the woodlands along both sides of the 57 freeway and across the hills to Harbor Boulevard/Fullerton Road.

Quick Facts

• The landowner, Aera Energy, is a wholly owned subsidiary of oil giants Shell and ExxonMobil.
• 90% of the property lies in unincorporated southeastern Los Angeles County while 10% lies in Brea’s Sphere of Influence in north Orange County.
• Aera Energy, has proposed building 3,600 houses which would generate an estimated 50,000 new vehicle trips a day to area streets and freeways.
• Aera has tried to process this project through Los Angeles County Planning and through Diamond Bar. Both jurisdictions told Aera to redesign the project to make it greener and less impactful. Thus far Aera has refused and the project is no longer being processed anywhere.
  

Status

• Shell-Aera has stated they plan to reapply to Los Angeles County. Aera representatives also, however, stated at a public meeting in October 2008, their willingness to sell the land.
• This property has been ranked biologically valuable and is therefore in contention for funds from Orange County Transportation Authority’s Renewed Measure M Environmental Mitigation Program. Funds can be used to purchase and save the land as mitigation for freeway project impacts. Shell-Aera is in negotiation for an appraisal of the Orange County portion of the project site through this program.
• With the market having shifted in this recession, and executive houses no longer as marketable, it is unknown what Aera will do next.

View a map of the Shell-Aera lands.

• Includes Rare Habitats
  The property contains extensive and increasingly rare oak and walnut woodlands. The grasslands serve as foraging grounds for raptors.
  
  
• Boasts Special Designations
  These woodlands qualified it to become a Significant Ecological Area (SEA) under Los Angeles County’s General Plan.
  
  
• Contains “Critical Habitat” for Endangered Species
  Since U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified much of Aera’s land as Critical Habitat for the California gnatcatcher, it requires special management and conservation consideration.
  
  
• Connectivity
  This is the only land that connects conserved areas to the west with conserved areas to the east.
  

Project History

• Applied to L.A. County
  In 2003, this oil company began processing its project through the Los Angeles County Planning Department since the land lies in unincorporated territory. At the first stage of review, L.A. County’s Significant Ecological Area Technical Advisory Committee, told Shell-Aera to redesign the project since the intensity and location of the development footprint did not comply with rules governing SEAs.
  
  
• Went Shopping for a Development Friendly City
  Rather than redesign the project, Shell-Aera pulled its project from Los Angeles County review and applied for project approval and annexation into the City of Diamond Bar in December 2006.
  
  
• Public Opposition Grew
  The Aera project was the lynch pin of a complicated land swap designed to relocate the Diamond Bar Golf Course next to the Aera project and develop the existing County golf course into a commercial center. Diamond Bar residents and supporters of the hills resoundingly opposed the housing project and the loss of the golf course. View the proposed land swap map. (117 KB - PDF)
  
  
• Project Stalled – Too Destructive Even for Diamond Bar
  Diamond Bar worked with Shell-Aera and attempted to make it a “greener” project – with less bulldozing, fewer houses, less water consumption, and more sustainable building techniques. With Aera unwilling to change its plans, Diamond Bar stopped processing the project in May 2008.
  

Shell-Aera's Site Plans (165 KB)