Proposed Raging Waters Expansion Getting a Rough Ride : Recreation: Bonelli Park group vows to fight any attempts to clear the way for more parking and develop more open space at amusement park site.

A citizens group that has repeatedly fought attempts to further develop Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park is making waves again, this time to prevent the popular Raging Waters amusement park from expanding.

In recent years, Raging Waters, a 50-acre water-slide attraction in the northwest corner of the 2,000-acre Bonelli Park, has been drawing huge crowds on peak summertime weekends. Owners of the amusement park say existing parking facilities--three dirt lots from which patrons must be bused to the attractions--are overwhelmed.

The owners want to increase parking by paving and possibly expanding those dusty lots, and they hope to boost attendance and profits by adding a 6- to 10-acre retail “village” and nine more acres of water attractions in an area now used for parking.

But they know their proposal is in for a rough ride.

Members of the 8-year-old Coalition to Preserve Bonelli Park have vowed to fight any attempts to clear the way for more parking or develop more open space.

San Dimas City Councilman Denis Bertone, co-chairman of the coalition, said its struggle to block further development in the park is hampered by the county’s insistence that Raging Waters stays. Ranking among the biggest single revenue producers in the county park system, Raging Waters contributed more than $800,000 in rent to the county’s general fund last year.

But coalition members say that money comes at too high a price.

“This proposed expansion of commercial development may enhance Raging Waters, but you’re taking valuable parkland away from the public,” Bertone said. “We’re not going to get any more park space in the San Gabriel Valley--it’s too precious.”

County officials, who are now considering the proposed expansion during a revision of the Bonelli Park master plan, say the coalition’s interests must be balanced with the interests of residents throughout the county. Bonelli, after all, is a regional, rather than a community park, they point out.

The park accommodates, in addition to 10-year-old Raging Waters, a variety of concessionaires. There are 500 RV sites, a family tent area, a golf course, hot tubs and developed picnic areas.

In addition, cash-strapped county park officials have opened Puddingstone Reservoir to Jet Ski rentals and national drag-boat races in addition to longtime recreational fishing. About a third of the park is developed.

Raging Waters, which has a lease with the county that runs to 2035, hopes to win approval within the next year from the County Board of Supervisors to expand. Rent is based on a percentage of gross sales, so theoretically, the county would get more money if the expansion brings in more customers.

Amusement park officials maintain that their attendance, which has increased over the past decade while Bonelli Park’s attendance has declined in recent years, proves the park is popular countywide. They say coalition members represent a boisterous minority in the community.

Furthermore, said Kent Lemasters, general manager of Raging Waters, the amusement park is one of the East San Gabriel Valley’s largest employers, with about 500 full- and part-time seasonal jobs. Most of the jobs at the park, which is open 135 days a year, are taken by teen-agers on summer break.

Despite the growing popularity of the amusement park, Raging Waters officials said, shareholders have not been paid dividends since the current owner, an investor group, took control in 1991.

Company officials say that to maintain their current customer base and attract new patrons they must build more rides, pave the dirt parking areas, and add roughly 1,000 more spaces to the 3,300 or so available now.

“The satisfaction level among visitors is high, but on weekends they don’t like the dirty, dusty ride on a bus across the (Puddingstone Reservoir) dam or the line for tickets once they get to the park,” said Andrew Haworth-Booth, president of Raging Waters.

“You can’t just close the gates after a certain number of people. What would you do with those who still want to get in? You could have a riot on your hands.”

Raging Waters wants to exercise its option to lease an additional 110 adjoining acres that would be partially developed as part of the expansion. A new entrance, featuring a village of retail shops and a variety of children’s attractions, would link improved parking areas with the southwest edge of the park.

But before the Board of Supervisors even considers that proposal, the project must be incorporated into a revised master plan for Bonelli Park, and an environmental impact report must be completed.

The current Bonelli Park master plan is 23 years old and outdated, county parks officials say. A new plan outlining development in the park is being drawn up by county-paid consultants who are taking testimony from a citizens advisory committee.

Home to deer, gray fox, jack rabbits and more than 100 species of birds, Bonelli Park lies mostly in San Dimas, but spreads into Pomona and La Verne. Covina and Glendora, though not contiguous with the park, are also members of the five-city joint powers authority.

The advisory group consists of two members from each city in the authority, as well as representatives of conservation groups, Bonelli Park concessionaires and other groups with an interest in the park.

Recently, several members of that master plan advisory committee--most are also coalition members--formed a fractious subcommittee that released a statement saying the workshops to revise the master plan are “a calculated effort to manipulate the citizen constituency” into going along with the expansion.

James Park, chief planner for the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, denied that the county is considering the Raging Waters expansion only for the sake of raking in more revenue.

“The department is very interested in seeing Raging Waters survive,” Park said. “I’m not convinced that, with the situation they are in, that they will survive. We need a balanced park that preserves the open space, serves the public and generates revenue.”

Park said he sympathizes with citizens who fiercely oppose the expansion and are suspicious of the motives of the county Parks Department.

In the past, he said, the department endorsed development plans for Bonelli Park that were too intensive by the standards of current Parks Department administrators.

In 1986, the county proposed adding to the park a hotel, conference center and 220-unit apartment complex, among other things.

Then, in 1990, the county proposed expanding Raging Waters by using 119 acres to build new attractions and a parking lot for 4,000 cars, and adding to Bonelli Park a 150-room lodge, an 80-unit cabin complex and a 25,000-square-foot restaurant in a hillside area west of Puddingstone Reservoir. Public opposition sank both plans.

The new master plan revision includes proposals to build horse trails and to develop fee-based corporate picnic areas.

However, coalition members are trying to keep the spotlight and the bulk of the controversy centered on Raging Waters.

“The fear I have of this expansion is that it follows a pattern at the park,” said Jane Riggs, who co-chairs the coalition with Bertone.

“One-quarter of the park is already developed, and they are never satisfied with what they have. Enough is enough.”