Claremont Warns of Closures at Wildnerness Park

Work on Claremont’s Wilderness Park parking lot has already begun and has forced the closure of the area of the construction.

The contractor, Panorama General Engineering, Inc., started preliminary work this week and has projected a completion date for the end of October 2012. The preliminary work includes survey documentation and preliminary construction evaluations, Claremont officials said.

The contractor expected brush clearance to have begun by now or next week at the latest. During the site and brush clearance operation, the parking lot and park entrance will remain open, officials said.

A temporary digital message board was placed on Mills Avenue at Mt. Baldy Road at the start of the work to that will flash news of the scheduled construction, officials said. Those were to be replaced with permanent signs.

Residents north of Mt. Baldy Road were scheduled to receive separate notification of the construction scheduling, officials said.

The existing parking lot at the north end of Mills Avenue was also supposed to be closed during construction. The parking lot at the northeast corner of Mills Avenue and Mt. Baldy Road will be the closest parking lot for accessing the Wilderness Park, officials said.

Pedestrians will be able to access to the park during most of the construction though there will be temporary closures of the Wilderness Park entrance as needed, according to city staff.

Residents will be given advanced notification prior to any full closures of the park entrance.

“Once construction of the parking lot is completed, staff will be working with the California Conservation Corps to perform all planting according to the approved landscape plans,” city officials said.