Ontario council approves amended DDA and CEQA addendum for sports-complex hotel after appeal; bond authorization clears with recusal

The Ontario City Council on Jan. 20 approved an amended and restated disposition and development agreement (DDA) and an addendum to the certified final environmental impact report (EIR) for the Ontario Recreational Sports Complex hotel project, following a public hearing and an appeal by labor representatives.

Jordan Sisson, land-use and CEQA counsel for the appellants, told the council the city’s February 2025 approval of a land sale preceded required CEQA review and compliance with the Surplus Land Act and amounted to impermissible "pre‑commitment" and piecemealing of environmental review. "When the city approved the land sale back in February 2025, without the addendum, without the other CEQA approval in hand ... this is a post hoc rationalization to support the actions already taken," Sisson said.

Planning staff summarized the project as a dual-brand, 226-room hotel with about 25,000 square feet of commercial uses on a 3.4-acre site in the Ontario Sports complex area. Staff outlined four specific appeal claims — including whether a conditional use permit was required, whether a reinstated development agreement needed council consideration, whether the EIR addendum properly assessed energy, greenhouse-gas and vehicle trip impacts, and whether the city had taken steps toward approval before preparing the addendum — and recommended limited grant/deny outcomes and procedural fixes.

After briefing and limited council discussion, Councilmember Bowman moved to adopt staff’s recommendations; the motion passed 5-0. The action, as described by staff, included granting portions of the appeal (claims 1 and 4 per the staff report), setting aside the planning commission’s adoption of the sports-complex EIR addendum and the prior approval of the development plan, and confirming that further consideration of the hotel development plan will proceed only after the council approves the EIR addendum and the amended and reinstated disposition and development agreement.

Separately, the council considered a resolution authorizing California Statewide Communities Development Authority revenue bonds of up to $100,000,000 to finance or refinance a commercial hotel district project in Ontario. That item passed with a recorded abstention/recusal by Councilmember Macias (the city attorney characterized the absence as a recusal under the Political Reform Act); the roll-call record shows the measure passed with four votes in favor and one abstention.

The council also later considered a resolution finding that the Ontario Airport Hotel and Conference Centre project serves the public interest and making related CEQA findings; staff presented redline edits to the environmental findings and a custodian-of-records provision. With Councilmember Macias recused from participation on the item, the council approved the resolution.

What happens next: staff said updated redline materials and EIR addendum language will be incorporated into the public record and that consideration of project approvals will proceed only after the council has acted on the addendum and the amended DDA. The council’s actions do not resolve any outstanding litigation; Sisson noted the appeal and related claims are part of active court proceedings.