San Gabriel Valley : Study Backs Plan to Expand Water Park

Raging Waters theme park is a step closer to winning approval for expansion plans that include nine more acres of water slides, much to the dismay of some environmentalists.

According to a preliminary county study, the proposed 28-acre expansion of the San Dimas theme park would not harm the environment. But environmentalists who oppose the plans have argued that the expansion would reduce open space and drive away wildlife in the county’s Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, where the 69-acre theme park is located.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” San Dimas Councilman Denis Bertone said of the county’s draft environmental impact report. Added Bertone, co-chair of the Coalition to Preserve Bonelli Park: “It’s like Raging Waters wrote the report.”

Raging Waters President Andrew Haworth-Booth pointed out that, even with the expansion, two-thirds of Bonelli park would remain open space. The expansion would create hundreds of new jobs and pump $121 million into the local economy in the next 10 years, officials said.

County supervisors are scheduled to vote on the expansion plans and the environmental impact report within the next few months. County approval would clear the way for the expansion, which would include a retail village and expanded parking lot.