Diamond Bar : Success in Petition Drive

Entering the final week of a six-month petition drive to qualify an incorporation measure for the ballot, cityhood proponents say they have collected the required number of signatures. “I know we’re over the top,” said Gary Werner, chairman of the Incorporation ’88 Committee.

To begin the process of placing a cityhood proposition on the November ballot, the committee must present the valid signatures of 25% of the registered voters in Diamond Bar to the county Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) by Wednesday.

The exact number of signatures required depends on the proposed boundaries of the new city of Diamond Bar, which have yet to be submitted to LAFCO. When the Incorporation ’88 Committee began circulating petitions in July, its members set a goal of at least 5,000 signatures.

Although Werner said that goal appears to have been reached, he declined to release an updated signature count until the petition deadline because he does not want to discourage anyone who has not signed the petition from doing so. Officially, Werner would only say that more than 4,000 signatures have been collected.

“I don’t want to reduce the fire,” Werner said. “People are still going to be working on this until Jan. 6.”

If enough valid signatures have been collected, the committee then may submit an application for cityhood, which is subject to change by LAFCO and must be approved by the County Board of Supervisors.