Officials Outline Sports Field, Trail, Habitat Restoration Plans for Hahamongna

Pasadena officials said they are ready to go forward on the Hahamongna Watershed Park project involving a sports field, trail and habitat restoration, but locals said they were looking for more details on the impacts of the project during the Wednesday meeting.

The plan is comprised of four major projects: Sycamore Grove Field, a new sports field on the Westside of the park, the Westside Perimeter Trail, improvements for Berkshire Creek, and basin habitat restoration along the edge of the Devil’s Gate basin. According to Project Manager for Parks and Landscape Loren Pluth who chaired the meeting, the city is ready to proceed with all four projects.

The Projects

For Arroyo Seco Project Manager Rosa Laveaga, the biggest project was the habitat restoration with a price tag set at approximately $950,000.

The Basin Habitat Restoration project will take place between the Westside Perimeter Trail, which runs along the La Canada Flintridge side of the park, and the basin boundary where its elevation would be raised to move habitats out of inundation areas where debris flow washes down during winter storms.

“It’s a complex project because of the sediment project being done by the Los Angeles County,” Pluth said, referring to a .

The Sycamore Grove Field project involves creating a new multipurpose sports field, a project that has concerned local community members who would prefer to see the park remain as a natural area.

“The plan was to have a natural park,” said Mary Barrie, a La Canada Flintridge resident and environmentalist. “Somewhere down the line, soccer fields were being proposed.”

Project plans also include expanding the parking lot near JPL and will creating new restrooms and storage rooms.  There would also be habitat restoration around the sports field area, improvements to the Foothill Drain, and some repairs to the disc golf course.

The Westside Perimeter Trail project would mean narrowing the asphalt road on the Westside of the park from the Flint Wash Bridge west to create a hiking and equestrian trail.

The idea of the Berkshire Creek project is to restore the urban drainage, by improving the quality of the water entering Arroyo Seco stream. 

An initial study is expected to be complete for the entire project by July 9, according to John Bellus, who will take part in drafting the environmental impact report. The initial study will then take on a 45-day public review.

Community Reaction

About 30 community members attended the meeting. Some expressed disappointment on the presentation, specifically because of the changes made to the project displays since the last meeting. The presentation did not go into much detail about those changes. According to Pluth, the team was still in planning and development mode and do not have the specifics.

“Right now we are trying to get to the next step,” Pluth said. “The next step is project level design. That’s where we interpret the master plan in blueprint.”

Altadena resident and environmental advocate Lori Paul also expressed community concern about the possibility of bringing back a second sports field project that was removed from the Hahamongna plan by the Pasadena City Council in 2010.

“There is an unknown uncertainty that the sports field might still happen,” Paul said during the meeting.

According to Pluth, the sports field was killed.

“In a practical sense, the city can not pursue the project,” Pluth added.

Community members are now awaiting for the initial study of the project, which will kick off the July scoping meetings where the full plans of the project will be discussed.  However, some attendees at Wednesday's meeting seemed to want more information before the meetings begin.

“The scoping meetings are so important because that’s the community’s chance to let our consultants know what we think about the projects,” Barrie said. “We can’t really comment unless we know what the findings are.”

“Once the study arrives on July 9, it’s the public’s chance to weigh in,” Pluth also said.

The city's scoping meetings, which are part of the state-required environmental process will be on the following dates:

Thursday, July 12th, 6:30pm – EIR Scoping Meeting #1 
Salvation Army Fellowship Hall, 960 East Walnut, Pasadena, CA 91106 
(Parking lot is entered from Mentor, south of Walnut)

Saturday, July 14th, 10:00am – EIR Scoping Meeting #2 
Salvation Army Fellowship Hall, 960 East Walnut, Pasadena, CA 91106 
(Parking lot is entered from Mentor, south of Walnut)