Monrovia advances $2 million purchase of 8-acre hillside property for wilderness preserve
Monrovia has agreed with the property owners to a proposed $2 million purchase of an 8-acre hillside property, a transaction that would stop the planned residential development and expand the city’s Hillside Wilderness Preserve if it is completed.
The agreement was reported in the City Manager’s Update issued July 10, 2026. It is not a completed purchase. The proposal still must go through public review and receive final approval before the transaction can close.
What would happen to the property
If Monrovia completes the acquisition, the existing single-family home would be demolished and the property would be restored to its natural condition. The proposed residential development would not proceed.
The 8-acre site would become part of the Hillside Wilderness Preserve, keeping the property in open-space use rather than converting it to residential development. The purchase would be paid for with restricted funds that are available only for open-space acquisition.
That restriction affects the process as well as the funding. The city’s update says the proposed purchase must receive review from the Monrovia Development Review Committee, the Monrovia Planning Commission and the Monrovia City Council.
Review schedule and City Council timing
City meeting materials listed the Development Review Committee for August 5, 2026, and the Planning Commission for August 12, 2026. The available sources do not establish an outcome for the Development Review Committee meeting, and the Planning Commission review was listed as a scheduled step.
The City Council meeting scheduled for August 4 was canceled. The next regular council meeting was scheduled for September 1, 2026.
Those dates identify the next known points in the public-review process, but they do not establish that the council has approved the purchase. The reviewed official sources do not provide a final City Council action or a closing date.
A proposed change in local land use
For Monrovia residents, the immediate issue is the future of this particular hillside property. The pending agreement points toward preserving the site as open space, adding eight acres to the Hillside Wilderness Preserve and removing the planned residential project from consideration if the purchase closes.
Until the required reviews, final approval and closing are documented, however, the city has not been documented as the property owner. The acquisition remains a proposal, not a finalized addition to the preserve.
Sources
- City Manager's Update | July 10, 2026, City of Monrovia
- Meeting Agendas and Minutes, City of Monrovia
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