Chino Hills has always been a special place in Southern California. It is a place that is close in miles to large metropolitan cities and yet far in spirit. Virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, the rolling hills were home to a few ranches and homesteaders. A handful of property owners appreciated the beauty of the hills. The majority of the residents were red tail hawks, mule ear deer, ground squirrels, mountain lions, cottontail rabbits, and coyotes.

In 1979, the County of San Bernardino initiated the development of the Chino Hills Specific Plan – the document that would plan for the eventual development of 18,000 acres – 26 square miles – located in Chino Hills.  The area had been protected from haphazard development because the land was not flat enough to build inexpensively.  It was clear, however, that development pressures were moving toward Chino Hills.  The innovative Specific Plan was the first in the State of California to be designed for an unincorporated area.  A Citizen’s Advisory Committee and County officials worked in cooperation with 150 property owners to develop the Plan.  The Southwest Hills Environmental and Planning Association (SHEPA) also participated in the public land use discussions during that time.  The Specific Plan called for clustered residential development concentrated in village cores, decreasing in density away from the core in order to protect as much open space as possible.  Commercial development was slated along the Highway 71 corridor.  By 1982, when the Specific Plan was approved, there were approximately 4,000 homes and 12,000 residents in Chino Hills.