With its legal dispute with Metro now in the rear view mirror, the City of San Dimas is moving forward with new zoning rules around its A Line stop that is scheduled for completion next year.

The new Downtown Specific Plan, which began community outreach in 2022, would span east to west on Bonita Avenue between Gaffney Street and the 57 Freeway and north to south between First Street and Arrow Highway. San Dimas Station, located on the east side of San Dimas Avenue to the south of Bonita, would be the centerpiece of the specific plan area.

San Dimas Downtown Specific Plan land use conceptsCity of San Dimas

The proposed specific plan would include six different districts, each with distinct development standards and goals. They include:

  • Gateway Village West: Located between the 57 Freeway and Cataract Avenue, which would accommodate residential and commercial uses, community-serving open space, and amenities.
  • Gateway Village East: Located between Gaffney Street and Walnut Avenue, would serve as a transition between the downtown core and lower-scale neighborhoods to the east.
  • Transit Village: Located directly adjacent to the station, it would permit residential, commercial, retail, and restaurant uses of similar scale and density to the Grove Station development at 182 S. Commercial Street.
  • Town Core: Consisting of the town core of San Dimas along Bonita Avenue between Cataract and San Dimas Avenue, the zone would retain historic buildings with pedestrian-oriented uses at street level and would permit new construction matching form and site design of existing construction.

The plan also includes the Public and Open Space zones, which encompasses San Dimas Civic Center and Civic Center Park properties, and are not intended to foster commercial development.

The draft specific plan identifies a pair of large shopping centers along either side of Arrow Highway between Bonita and Cienega Avenues as an opportunity site for development. Potential new construction could include buildings of up to four and five stories in height.

Opportunity sites: Main StreetCity of San Dimas

A full buildout of the specific plan, which is assumed to occur over a roughly 20-year period, could generate up to 3,687 new homes. The city's 2021-2029 Housing Element update requires San Dimas to rezone to accommodate 1,248 new homes - nearly half of which must be affordable to low- and very low-income households.

The plan will require the approval of a general plan amendment, a zone change, and a municipal code text amendment.

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