[ACT] Hahamongna Watershed Park Update: Road to a "new" (JPL) parking lot?

[Gaboon]

Hi Mary,

I realize the lot has been used by JPL within its own secure boundary  
for 23 years, that's why I put "new" in quotes, because that lot  
would be "new" to public use and a "new" road would need to be built  
for the public to access that parking area once it is moved outside  
of JPL's fence.

Clearly, the promise to return the "temporary" lot to its original  
"open space" designation within 5 years after the lot's construction  
in 1986 has been spectacularly broken for over two decades. This is  
not a problem generated by JPL, of course, but by Pasadena's plans  
for Hahamongna Watershed Park. Ever since L.A. County returned  
control of HWP to Pasadena, that city's plans for this wild parkland  
have been a moving target.

Please keep us apprised of what you know, Mary! Thanks for your  
vigilance and that of others who have long sought to assure  
preservation of HWP.

Lori

- - -

On Jan 20, 2009, at 11:10 AM, Meb787 at aol.com wrote:

Lori,

The west parking lot would be "new" only in the sense that it would  
be a new parking lot for park users.  It has been used by JPL  
employees for 23 years.  In 1986 it was put in during a JPL  
construction project as a "temporary" lot for JPL employees with the  
pledge that it would be returned to open space within five years.

JPL's use of the lot has not been a problem for the park in terms of  
traffic because JPL has its own internal network of roads.

The language in the lease permitting joint use of the west parking  
lot by JPL and park users is very worrisome for several reasons:

1.  There is no way to get there from here!  There is no way for the  
cars of park users to get to that parking lot unless a new road is  
built through the heart of the park - either on the Hahamongna Annex  
or on the perimeter trail.

2.  Once the road is built through the park, who knows how extensive  
will be the development that follows?  There is an extensive history  
of development proposals for Hahamongna which many of you may  
recall.  More about that later.

3.  Until JPL goes public with its parking garage plans, how do we  
know that the parking garage won't reappear on the west parking lot  
at some later date?  You may recall that, during the Master Plan  
process, there was concern that this parking garage would be used for  
Rose Bowl parking.  That turned out to be a well-founded concern.  A  
technical report to the HWP Master Plan prepared by The Natelson  
Company. which I only obtained recently, discusses the use of the  
Hahamongna parking garage for Rose Bowl parking in considerable detail.

I realize that JPL has a real headache in trying to find a place to  
park those 1200 cars which are now parked in the east lot.  Given  
JPL's sensitivity to community concerns, I cannot believe that the  
lab would agree to a solution which would degrade the park with  
traffic and new roads.  They need to let the public know what their  
plans are, though, to put these concerns to rest.

As Lori said, there will be much more about this in the months  
ahead.  If you know of anyone who is particularly interested in  
Hahamongna who may not be on the lists, could you please email me his/ 
her name?

I couldn't agree with Lori more that this is about the future.  This  
is our chance to keep a few acres rustic and natural so that others  
may enjoy the birds, the wildlife, the hikes and rides, all that we  
have been privileged to enjoy.  The challenge will be to overcome a  
development mentality that sees every bit of open space only in terms  
of the short-term problems which it can solve - a mentality that sees  
no land as off limits no matter how special it may be and no matter  
how much and how long the community has insisted that it be protected.

We need your help.
Mary B.

- - -

In a message dated 1/19/2009 7:04:55 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
gaboon at sbcglobal.net writes:
*Available for cross-posting...

Dear Neighbors, Trail Users & Those Who Care About Hahamongna  
Watershed Park,

As the protracted and arcane planning for the future of Hahamongna  
Watershed Park (HWP) proceeds with the City of Pasadena, there have  
been numerous public workshops, advisory committee meetings, a major  
"charette" and so forth. I have reported on only a few, but suffice  
to say that "public input fatigue" set in long ago among those  
stubborn souls who have attempted to follow the entire "process" over  
the many years.

It is time to bring a new matter to your attention.

After repeated and overwhelming opposition from community  
participants to Pasadena's plans to build additional parking lots and  
a new vehicular road within this natural wildland park, Pasadena  
continues to work towards such a road while no one is looking. Most  
recently, the Pasadena City Council, at its 12 January 2009 meeting,  
approved an amendment to the City's lease with JPL that includes  
public use of what is currently a JPL-only (within the Lab) parking  
lot on the west side of the HWP. For the public to access that  
parking lot from outside JPL, a new road would need to be built  
across the park, per prior plans opposed by the park users.

 From time to time Pasadena resurrects its effort to turn the  
existing perimeter trail into a road and to build a paved road to a  
"new" parking area (or structure) at the North end of the park,  
adjacent to JPL's eastern boundary. See the two versions of Exhibit  
3-5 below excerpted from the HWP Master Plan, one from  2002 and the  
other from 2003. In the first version there's a hiker and a horse  
rider on the trail. In the second version (a year later), the people  
and horse (Perimeter Trail) have been replaced by a car (now labeled  
"Roadway")!

Lest a new road be approved under the radar of all those who value  
this natural parkland, I am forwarding this information to you.  
Please be aware of Pasadena's repeated attempts to build  
inappropriate roads and parking lots in HWP's oak woodland and  
recovering riparian habitat. Such roads might lead to a future  
parking structure, which in turn might serve inappropriate sports  
fields in HWP or even supplemental Rose Bowl parking.

Please express your concern and opposition to roads within Hahamongna  
to Pasadena at upcoming meetings. I will forward announcements re:  
opportunities to provide input from time to time. Your opinions count  
immensely! Stand by for more information as this situation develops  
further.

The wild parkland and watershed you can save belongs to all of us,  
including future generations. Please help assure that its beauty,  
wildlife, trail junction and open public access are honored by the  
City of Pasadena.

Respectfully,

Lori L. Paul

- - -

Begin forwarded message:

Subject: JPL parking lease in Hahamongna

Friends,

(I apologize if you receive the following email several times through  
the various lists.  I have put together my own list to send out  
Hahamongna information over the next few months because I sometimes  
find the Arroyo Seco Foundation list slow to put up posts (since it  
is a moderated list, Tim looks over eveything before it gets  
posted.)  If you do not want to be on my list, please let me know.   
If you are on the ACT and/or ETI list please let me know that also.   
I will try to use it my list in moderation since I know how pesky the  
flood of email can be.)

At its January 12, 2009 meeting, the Pasadena City Council approved  
an amendment to the lease between the city and JPL for the use of the  
east and west Hahamongna lots for parking.  The lease is for two  
years with an option for an additional 2 1/2 years.  The lease  
revenues will be $696,000/year, a substantial increase over the  
current rental of $540,000.  As the city has stated previously, in  
2013 JPL will have to vacate the east lot so that spreading basins  
can be built on most of this lot.  Two hundred parking spaces will be  
retained on the east side of the park, however, for the use of  
visitors to the park and the National Forest.

The really interesting aspect of this lease, described in the staff  
report as a "minor adjustment," is language in the lease to allow  
shared use of the west JPL parking lot on weekends by park visitors.   
You may recall that this was the arrangement that was proposed for  
the 1200 car parking garage that the city was planning to build for  
JPL on the west parking lot.  The parking garage would have required  
a road through the park for car traffic, a proposal which met with  
much disapproval.  Both the road and the parking garage were taken  
out of the Hahamongna Master Plan in response to public comment.

Mayor Bogaard and Michael Beck, the new City Manager, stated that the  
lease terms do not allow the building of a new road in the Arroyo.   
"My understanding with the lease [is that] it simply allows for the  
option in the future for that to be used as [a] shared use parking  
lot," said Mr. Beck.  He added that the action "does not create a  
requirement on behalf of staff or permission given by Council to  
actually build a road."  The Mayor reassured the community that  
action by the city on the lease does not "contemplate or imply in any  
way a new road in the Arroyo Seco.  That will be a separate question  
that the staff may be going to ask the Council to consider but it  
will be separate and subsequent."

As I pointed out in my comments, however, there is no way for the  
park user to access this parking lot unless a new road is cut through  
the park or the existing perimeter trail (sometimes called the Old  
Quarry Road) is turned into a roadway through the heart of the park.   
Perhaps this explains what happened in the redline version of the  
Master Plan.  The hikers and the equestrian in Exhibit 3-5 (see  
attached) of the 2002 version of the plan, which the public reviewed,  
were replaced by a car merrily rolling down the perimeter trail, now  
referred to as a roadway (thanks to Bev and friends for that sharp- 
eyed catch!)

There was another interesting fact which came out of Monday's  
meeting.  Mr. Paul Daily of Caltech gave a report on JPL parking.   
The lab is not currently building a parking garage.  They have no  
firm plans about where they might build this garage or how it might  
be funded despite the fast-approaching 2013 deadline.  "How we are  
going to park something like a little less than half of our cars, we  
don't have an answer for that right now,"  Mr. Daily said.

Stay tuned.
Mary B.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.fourpalms.org/pipermail/act/attachments/20090120/34e6fb64/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: unknown.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41921 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.fourpalms.org/pipermail/act/attachments/20090120/34e6fb64/attachment-0001.jpg