Ontario council approves Phase 1 of Grand Park, records recusal over tree‑planting contract

The Ontario City Council voted to advance construction of Phase 1 of the Ontario Grand Park and to award related contracts, while recording a recusal by the mayor pro tem from votes involving a tree‑planting contract.

City Manager (city manager) presented the project as a major community amenity stretching roughly 370 acres in total, with about 130 acres proposed in the eastern Phase 1 area. In the presentation he described the phase’s features — an amphitheater seating about 5,000; a farm hub and Market Alley for community events; all‑access playgrounds; orchards and trails — and said the presentation drawings show the parts of Phase 1 that would be delivered first. “This is 370 acres approximately, and about 4 miles long. The part that we’re talking about tonight is … 130 acres,” he said, adding later that “the overall project cost is roughly $125,000,000.”

On procurement, staff recommended awarding the public‑works construction contract to Clark Construction and a sole‑source contract to West Coast Arborist to handle planting and to use its GPS‑based tree inventory for roughly 4,500 trees. City Manager explained the rationale for a sole source: West Coast Arborist maintains a proprietary, GPS‑based inventory of the city’s tree assets, which would otherwise have to be recreated by a contractor at additional cost.

Before votes on the separate contract items, a council member announced a conflict: “I’ve received a campaign contribution from West Coast arborist, so please record me as a recusal,” and later asked to be shown recused for items 10B and 10C while voting on 10A. The city attorney advised taking separate motions and votes to clearly reflect the recusal and noted the Levine Act and Political Reform Act distinctions for leaving the dais.

Council divided actions: the construction contract portion (item A) proceeded with the member participating, and the West Coast Arborist sole‑source and related authorization (items B and C) were taken with the recusal recorded. The record shows the motions were approved (item A by a standard affirmative vote; items B and C passed with a recorded abstention/recusal). The council set a construction start as early as January 2026 for the awarded contract and staff estimated the first delivered elements of Phase 1A could be ready by fall 2026.

The council’s action advances a large civic park project envisioned in the 2021 master plan and reiterates that policy decisions about potential Prop 70 constraints or uses of different park lands would return to council in future agenda items.

Next steps: contract execution for the awarded construction work and the sole‑source tree contract as recorded, with follow‑up policy decisions about Prop 70 lands and long‑range build‑out to be presented to the council.