Fontana approves grocery-anchored center at Sierra and Terra Vista
Fontana City Council approved a 69,617-square-foot grocery-anchored center at Sierra Avenue and Terra Vista Drive, changing planned residential use.
Fontana City Council approved a grocery-anchored commercial center on July 14, 2026, at Sierra Avenue and Terra Vista Drive in the Arboretum development.
The approval covers an approximately 9.3-acre site and allows a 69,617-square-foot center. For nearby residents, the decision changes how the site may be used and raises questions about vehicle circulation, delivery traffic, pedestrian routes and school crossings.
What Fontana approved
The center is planned to include a 49,362-square-foot grocery store, a 13,017-square-foot inline retail building, a 9,544-square-foot pad building and a 3,694-square-foot drive-through restaurant. The approved project also includes a conditional-use permit for off-site alcohol sales at the grocery store.
The site’s land-use designation is changing from Residential Planned Community to General Commercial. The City Council’s approved actions also include related General Plan and Arboretum Specific Plan amendments, subdivision maps, design review, a conditional-use permit, an environmental addendum and changes to the development agreement.
Housing capacity is being redistributed
The commercial use replaces residential planning at this particular site, but city documents indicate that the overall number of housing units allowed within the Arboretum Specific Plan is intended to remain unchanged.
Instead, residential capacity associated with the commercial parcel is expected to be redistributed to other undeveloped planning areas. The approval therefore does not by itself establish that planned homes are being canceled across the development. It changes where those units may be allocated within the specific plan.
Traffic, deliveries and student safety
The project plans include vehicle access from Sierra Avenue and Terra Vista Drive, internal vehicle and pedestrian circulation, marked crossings, sidewalks and a landscaped east-west path leading toward the grocery store.
Those features were central to the council discussion. Members questioned whether the layout would keep traffic from backing up onto surrounding streets and how delivery trucks and loading activity could affect future homes planned near the site. The staff report describes multiple access points, the grocery building set farther into the property, screening walls and separation between loading areas and future housing as parts of the planned layout.
Pedestrian safety was another concern, particularly as additional housing is built near an existing elementary school. Inland Valley News reported that city engineering and traffic staff were evaluating possible measures such as deceleration lanes, traffic-calming features and pedestrian improvements, including signalized crossings. Those concerns and potential measures should not be read as proof of traffic or safety impacts that have already occurred.
Approval is not an opening date
The council’s action is an entitlement approval. It does not establish when construction will begin, when tenants will be announced or when the grocery store and other businesses will open.
The next details to watch are construction permits and timing, final tenant information, traffic-control plans, delivery access and the specific pedestrian or school-crossing improvements required as the project moves forward.
Sources
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