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Bloomington Cityhood Facing Eleventh Hour |
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
BLOOMINGTON
By Chris Levister
With Rialto to the north breathing down Bloomington's neck
with plans to build a newly approved massive residential project and a February
28 deadline to raise $100,000 to move cityhood plans forward, members of the
Bloomington Incorporation Commission (BIC) are facing a do or die eleventh
hour.
"We're skirting death," said BIC spokesman Eric Davenport,
"That said, don't count us out just yet, with cash and pledges we are about 90%
of the ways there."
Davenport
says the grassroots group, known for its colorful folksy manner, is negotiating
with several disclosed and anonymous investors to raise the final cash.
"We fully expect to have the funds by the 28th deadline," Davenport said at press
time Wednesday. "However, if negotiations stall we will ask LAFCO for more
time."
LAFCO, the Local Formation Commission of San Bernardino
County, is the agency overseeing the process. The commission's executive
director Kathleen Rollings-McDonald said the staff will recommend against
giving BIC more time to raise the money which is required to pay for a
comprehensive financial analysis and environmental review. Without the funds
the project fails to move forward, said Rollings-McDonald.
"Bloomington Incorporation Commission has had a year to
raise these funds," Rolling-McDonald said Monday. She said the full commission
will have the final say if the group requests an extension.
Davenport
said BIC recognizing the financial constraints of its small mostly low income
community adopted a policy of raising funds in increments. "We raised the initial
$9,000 to get the project off the ground. This is the last big funding hurdle."
He says fund raising efforts were slowed by the Christmas holidays when
residents and investors typically don't give to such efforts.
Protecting the 6 square mile equestrian friendly hamlet
dotted with large lots, horse ranches, chicken farms and nurseries is seen by
residents, surrounding city leaders and curious watchers as a David and Goliath
effort.
Bloomington's
ambitious plan to preserve its rural way of life has seesawed precariously
between life and death since the group announced plans to form a city more than
15 months ago.
LAFCO refused to block annexation moves by Fontana
and Rialto after both cities filed formal
requests to annex land Bloomington
residents want to incorporate. Last fall BIC struggled to collect signatures
from 25 percent of it's more than 7,000 registered voters.
If the group raises the $100,000, the project will move into
the final funding phase. If the environmental and financial studies pass
commission muster, an election would be called to let residents decide if they
want to be a city.
Davenport
said despite earlier wrangling over the financial feasibility of forming a
city, LAFCO has been fair. "In many ways the commission has given us more lives
than a cat," he said.
"This is absolutely an uphill battle, but we feel BIC should
have the right to form a city commissioner Kimberly Cox, told the group last
year.
Looming in the foreground if incorporation plans fail is a
massive residential project approved by the Rialto City Council last week. The
726-home, 165-acre development is being proposed by Young Homes.
The Young Homes proposal includes homes, parks, gazebos,
tot-lots and trails on incorporated land Rialto
would annex south of the city, north of El Rivino Road on both sides of Cactus Avenue. The
project would be built on land that BIC seeks to incorporate.
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