by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The Claremont City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to authorize the purchase of two parcels of land that will add 79.6 acres to the Claremont Hill Wilderness Park at a cost of $3.8 million, of which the city is contributing $400,000.

The Jaffe and Seaver properties fetched $1.9 million each.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase two vacant parcels adjacent to the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. Photo/courtesy of City of Claremont

Funds for the Jaffe property included $1,138,000 million in Rivers and Mountains Conservancy grants secured by Claremont Wildlands Conservancy, $382,000 from Wildlands Conservancy fundraising efforts, and $380,000 from the city.

The Seaver parcel was purchased with $1,862,000 million in Rivers and Mountains Conservancy grants, $25,000 from Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office, and $20,000 from the city.

“The city funds for the proposed acquisitions come partially from a reserve that we established several years ago for future open space acquisitions,” City Manager Adam Pirrie said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Staff proposes to use funds in that reserve in the amount of $300,000, as well as appropriating an additional $100,000 from the unassigned general fund balance to fully fund the city’s contribution to the acquisition.”

The parcels are roughly 40 acres each and are adjacent to the Wilderness Park, northwest of Highpoint Drive and west of Johnson’s Pasture.

“Upon acquisition, the CWC would transfer its interests in the properties to the city so that they can be incorporated into the Wilderness Park and preserved,” Pirrie said. “The properties are proposed to be jointly purchased at their appraised values by the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy and the city, and the CWC would then simultaneously assign its interest in the properties to the city so that the city would become the sole owner of both properties.”

The deal has been in the works since mid-2024 according to Claremont Wildlands Conservancy President Colin Tudor, and Lissa Petersen, a CWC board member and chair of its acquisitions committee.

“This is one of those rare opportunities where the council has a chance to make what should be a widely supported, if not universally supported action,” Tudor said. “And these kind of purchases don’t come up very often. I haven’t been involved in these kinds of purchases for the last 20 years. It’s always a bit of a circuitous route to get to the end, and this purchase is no different. But we’re there, and this is really the last piece that needs to happen and the last thing that needs to happen in order to fully execute this and preserve these parcels for, in perpetuity.”