Walnut : Housing Tracts Delayed

A last-minute snag has indefinitely postponed plans for the construction of two housing tracts in central Walnut that are the linchpins to the long-awaited completion of Meadow Pass Road between Amar Road and Lemon Avenue.

City Manager Linda Holmes told the City Council on Wednesday that Robert Salamoni, a co-owner of one of the two proposed subdivisions, refused to sign the development agreement approved by the council at its May 8 meeting.

Holmes said that Taleb Sabouni, one of the partners in the development, subsequently filed a lawsuit against Salamoni and that resolving it could take several months.

“It was my understanding that this was a done deal,” said Mayor Ray T. Watson, expressing anger at the delay, one of many in the city’s drawn-out negotiations with the developers.

Despite its annoyance at the new delay, the council voted 5 to 0 to extend the deadline for signing the agreement for six months.