November 14, 2009
Meeting Summary
East Eaton Wash Neighborhood Association
Preparation
E-mail reminder was sent and some phone
calls were made
Acknowledgments
Susan brought a couple varieties of quick bread. Several people brought fruit for distribution.
Attendees
8 members
Meeting
Agenda Items:
The meeting began about 11:20 am
- Park - new pedestrian path
- New park pedestrian path between Avocado at Las Lunas and south east corner of park is finally open.
- City had a lot of problems getting itself coordinated on opening and closing the gates. Hopefully that is now resolved.
- Park maintenance workers are supposed to open gates in the
morning. Security contractor Intercon is supposed to close them
at night.
- There is a sign (currently temporary version) on the gate with
phone numbers to call if the gates are not unlocked or locked
appropriately.
- Alameda traffic, dump trucks, speed humps
- In
mid September there was a traffic count taken on Alameda between
Mercury Lane and Santa Paula. A resident of the street requested speed humps.
- The City sent out a ballot in October to houses on Alameda,
including corner houses with an address on an intersecting street, asking whether they
are in favor
or opposed to having speed humps on the street.
- In order to be
approved, the city needs a yes response from two thirds of
the households. Not voting has the same effect as voting no.
- At the beginning of this past week there were 16 addresses
which had not returned ballots out of about 33? potential votes. 8 more yes votes were needed to
approve humps.
- The city was going to send out a second ballot this past week to the houses that had not yet voted
(Alameda addresses: 3139, 3143, 3140, 3182, 3190, 3192, 3196, 3198, 3210, 3212, 3214, 3234
Santa Paula addresses: 401, 415, 416
Mercury lane address: 415)
- Unknown to whom the city is addressing the ballots. Could be based on PWP bills or assessor listed owner or occupant.
- The dump trucks stopped running through our neighborhood two to
three weeks ago. What a relief! However, we do not know if this
is permanent or just a temporary reprieve. We know Pasadena Water & Power promised
to work on doing something about it, but we also know residents made
additional complaint efforts, including one speaking and sending pictures
to the head of the city's traffic division questioning the lack of
permits and environmental study for the dirt dumping and sifting activity.
- Ice Rink decision follow-on
- On
October 12, the Build the Rink petition was presented to the City
Council during
public comment and requested Councilmember Gordo's response. He
punted
to the City Manager, who said if someone brings another proposal
forward
with reduced financial risk they would bring it to the Council. Gordo said
a revote would not accomplish anything because Polar Ice has indicated
it is not
currently willing/able to continue along the lines the Council indicated it
wanted. Councilmember Madison then spoke and said he only
recently learned
that the soil conditions of this site add a big chunk of the cost, so
staff should be looking around at other sites around the city.
(Apparently Madison didn't bother to read staff reports or listen to
staff
presentations over the past several years).
- Dr.
Jeanette Mann of the PCC Board of Trustees reportedly said on October
13 that PCC has never signed an agreement for an easement to
provide the City with access to the ice rink site. Discussions
were still underway, but she did not believe the city was willing to
accept the terms PCC would require. She said PCC does not want a
rink in that location and she personally as a resident and taxpayer
believes it would be a waste of money.
- Rusnak redevelopment of former Chrysler dealership
- 2965 E. Colorado Blvd.
- Remodel of existing building and creation of two huge new buildings for a total of three dealerships and a corporate office.
- Pre plan review at City Council's October 19 meeting, postponed until October 26 meeting.
- Development update for SE corner Foothill and Sierra Madre Villa
- October
26 there was a 50% design review for the reuse of the western end of
the historic Stuart Pharmaceutical building by changing it into a live
theater to be used by the company A Noise Within.
- In
the staff report, it says that the 212 unit condominium project that
was to be right on the corner has been separated from the theater
project and will not proceed (for now anyway).
- As
a result of that, the theater project will no longer to be required to
provide an access path from the light rail station building to
Foothill, since that path was to be on the condo project parcel, and
the theater project doesn't control that. The design and control
of that path, required by the City Council when they approved the
overall project, had been a major sticking point in previous Design
Commission discussions. It was considered problematic for the
condo project from a security standpoint. Now they've gotten rid of the issue.
- Hastings Branch Library planting beds project
- On
November 21 there will be a community service project to redo the
flower beds in front of Hastings Branch library.
- 8 - 11 am or any portion thereof.
- Bring gloves, and tools (if you have them).
- If you expect to go, it is requested that you let Rhonda Stone
know 626 744-4740 or rstone@cityofpasadena.net . But you are
invited even if you only decide to go at the last minute.
- anything else attendees wish to discuss
- Street trees on Sierra Madre Villa, Rosemead, Halstead
- At a meeting at Victory Park on October 19, the Urban Forestry
Commission discussed the current master street tree plan designation of
Southern Magnoilia on lower Sierra Madre Villa and Halstead, and Liquid
Amber on Rosemead.
- When asked why other local streets with Liquid Amber, such as
the higher portion of Sierra Madre Villa or Santa Paula, were not being
discussed, the answer was that the Council had only directed looking at
"business district" streets so they were limiting it to portions of
streets within the East Pasadena Specific Plan.
- When asked why Electronic Drive, which is also Southern
Magnolia was not included, they said the street isn't on the street
tree list. Maybe it is just not on the specific plan list
(although it is entirely surrounded by specific plan area).
The city staff did not acknowledge existence of the street.
- The main concerns with the Liquid Amber tree are its seed pods and need for lots of space.
- The
few meeting attendees who voiced issues noted how dangerous the seed
pods can be and that there are some places were they do not get cleaned
up. City forestry staff said they should be told when adjacent
land holders are not cleaning them up and they can work with code
compliance on remedying that. Forestry staff noted that all trees
have some issues and they didn't feel this was severe enough to condemn
the tree type.
- There was some discussion of how designating a very
different tree might look since the existing trees could easily be
expected to live another 100 years, being only about 50 to 60 years old
now. No healthy trees would be removed except for very specific
development issues.
- Discussion of "carbon footprint" being high in part because
the trees go dormant in the winter. Was noted that along Rosemead
that is nice because it allows the many private trees behind to be seen.
- There was mention of using no-fruiting sprays. Staff said those badly stress trees so the city won't use them.
- However, it was noted that there is a different cultivar of
liquid amber which is non-fruiting. So it would not have seed
pods. Forestry staff said this cultivar has already been used in
new street tree plantings adjacent to the "bank building". The
leaves reportedly are rounder and turn purple in the fall. It was
suggested that rather then change the tree designation, forestry staff
could have a policy of preferring this cultivar.
- There was some discussion of how forestry staff would
insure future staff would understand the importance of using that
cultivar if it isn't specifically called out on the master street tree
plan. Staff talked about their new database of trees which allows
them to put lots more information in.
- Discussing the space requirements of the trees, forestry
staff said Rosemead is the one street in the city where there is enough
room for them due to the wide parkways. It was noted the trees
seem to like it there, that some are over 100' tall even though the
tree book gives a shorter maximum height.
- Commission agreed to recommend leaving Liquid Amber as designated tree, but using this non-fruiting cultivar.
- The main concern with the Southern Magnolia is its need for
lots of water. They cannot survive without additional water in the
non-rain months.
- One commissioner noted that the trees on the residential
side of Sierra Madre Villa do not appear to be doing a well as those on
the commercial side. He/she attributed this to the likelihood
that residents are more likely to restrict their water use.
(Actually, a historical factor that did not come up is that until 14
years ago when they were undergrounded the power lines ran above the
trees on the west side of the street, requiring them to be cut back a
lot more then those on the east side.)
- Staff noted that they have started using a different
cultivar of Magnolia called "Little Gem" as trees are replaced.
Apparently some of these have already been used on Halstead near the
train station. This cultivar reportedly only grows to 20 feet
tall, but is more drought tolerant.
- Commission agreed to recommend leaving Magnolia as the designated tree but using this other cultivar.
- Burglaries
- There continue to be more burglaries then normal in east Pasadena.
- In
our neighborhood there was one at a house on the corner of Estado and Santa Paula
on October 14 between noon and 3:30 pm. Thieves entered through a
bedroom window and took a large value of items.
- This is another reminder to lock up and keep an eye out. Call the police about any suspicious activity.
- Sierra Madre Villa Traffic
- It was noted that there has been a significant increase in traffic
on Sierra Madre Villa since the Nordstrom's Rack opened in the shopping
center.
- Questioned whether there was any way to require them to put in for
the future signal at Electronic Drive that has been awaiting fees or
mitigation requirements generated by future anticipated development of
the former Allstate property that is now Cogent property.
- Since the Nordstrom Rack just reused the existing building and
replaced another retail business it didn't require special development
fees or traffic mitigation measures.
Next meeting is December 12, 2009, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library
Adjourned about 12:30 pm?