Quake, fire and civic redevelopment mark in Chino Hills in '08

The power of Mother Nature and the promise of civic redevelopment made 2008 memorable for the city.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake on July 29 centered near Chino Hills jolted Southern California.

Its epicenter was reported just south of Carbon Canyon Road, near the historic Sleepy Hollow neighborhood by the Orange County line. It was felt as far away as San Diego and Las Vegas.

Barbara Garcia, who lives near the epicenter in the neighborhood of Western Hills, said it was the loudest earthquake she ever heard.

"It was like a boom sound," Garcia said. "It felt literally like the whole house jumped up and down."

The earthquake did not result in injuries or death.

Most property escaped unscathed, although merchandise fell from the shelves of many shops had merchandise fall from shelves.

The Sleepy Hollow area was also the scene in November of the Triangle Complex Fire that ravaged some of the city's hillsides.

Sleepy Hollow resident Jonathan Whitener found himself battling 50-foot-high flames behind his home as the wildfire roared around his hillside neighborhood.

"It was intense to stand there all alone, just you and your house," Whitener said. "It was scary."

The fire burned through 95 percent of the grassland of the Chino Hills State Park. It devastated much of the grass and plant life in the park and resulted in animals migrating to other open land spaces.

No homes were destroyed, but a few residents reported structural damage to their homes as well as property loss.

The city also witnessed a new identity and downtown core as a government center and large outdoor shopping mall opened their doors.

The Shoppes at Chino Hills -- which features 65 upscale retail tenants, including H&M, Trader Joe's and Barnes and Noble -- opened in May.

The 400,000-square-foot shopping center is part of 50 acres that were redeveloped near the southeast corner of Grand Avenue and Peyton Drive.

The development includes the $54 million government center project that features a new City Hall, police station, Fire Department headquarters and a library.

The center is just to the south of the Shoppes at Chino Hills along Peyton and Boy's Republic Drive.

The 30,000-square-foot police station opened in August; the 59,000-square-foot City Hall as well as the 16,000-square-foot Chino Valley Independent Fire District headquarters opened in November; and the new James S. Thalman Library is tentatively set to open in early February.