Pasadena Weighs Plan to Buy Annandale Canyon Natural Area

By Don Bremner

     It's a natural, wooded canyon in west Pasadena adjacent the border with Glendale, billed as one of the largest unspoiled open spaces left in the city. It would be an enticing location for a couple of dozen expensive hillside homes. Or with a few trails through the sometimes-dense growth, it could be an appealing area for a nature walk in the woods.
      The future of Annandale Canyon has been debated by neighbors, city officials and environmentalists since a developer proposed several years ago to build 24 homes on the 20-acre site. With the housing proposal facing serious obstacles, the vision of a permanent urban wild land seemed feasible if only enough money could be found to acquire the land.
     Last year, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy pledged $2.5 million, about one-third of the amount needed. Where would the rest of the purchase price come from? Should the neighbors pay most of it, since they presumably would benefit most? Should all of Pasadena's residents contribute, and how much?
     Pasadena City staff finally came up with a plan that would put nearly half of the cost on neighbors generally within half a mile of Annandale Canyon. But a neighborhood group and others protested that it would be unfair to have the neighbors shoulder such a large share of the burden for public open space that could benefit all of Pasadena.
     The Pasadena City Council was scheduled to take up the issue Feb. 11, but at the last minute postponed it until Feb. 25. Annandale's saga provides lessons in attempts to preserve large open spaces.
      Needing another $4.5 million or so to meet the price agreed to last fall by the City and the developer, the City staff proposed that $3 million come from several hundred neighbors, and $1.5 million from city, state or county funds. The neighbors would be grouped in a benefit assessment district, a device used to finance improvements that benefit nearby properties. Depending on which zone they live in of four zones marked out at varying distances from the canyon, neighbors would pay an extra $198 to $992 in property taxes each year for 30 years.
     The assessment would require majority approval by the neighbors, and many open space advocates feared that those hefty tax increases would doom the plan. That would leave the City still looking for more than $3 million, and would cloud Pasadena's fresh start on preserving open space.
     Prodded by open space activists, the City Council last year allocated $200,000 for development of an open space element to be added to its master plans. A citizen-based 9-member Open Space-Conservation Committee is being formed this spring to work with city staff on the document, and to develop a detailed open space acquisition plan and proposals for funding and implementation.
     All of that adds up to a serious effort to identify open spaces worth preserving and an effort to acquire them. A citywide public opinion survey could guide decisions by disclosing what Pasadena residents are willing to pay for open space, new parks, or maintenance and improvement of existing parks, and what taxes could finance them.
     Rather than asking Annandale Canyon's neighbors to foot half the bill, the City could make the canyon a major part of a broad plan to identify and acquire desirable open space.
     Unspoiled, undeveloped Annandale Canyon, if it is acquired by the City of Pasadena, could become the Annandale Canyon Natural Area - for public recreation, nature study, photography, and wildlife refuge.

     It's steep in places, with lots of trees and brush. It needs a few amenities:

• Trails to make it easier to get around - the present use trails are overgrown.
• A trailhead, with parking, perhaps tables and restrooms.
• Plaques to show visitors the trail pattern, and explain the canyon's character and history.

     A natural area like this, with properly cleared trails, would benefit the whole city, not just the neighbors. It's out of the way, but it would offer a more secluded wild land experience than more open and visible parks. Once it's ready, with a few street signs directing visitors to the site, more and more people will hear of it and come to enjoy it.

Arroyo Seco Restoration Could Bring Return of Small Native Fish

     A section of the Arroyo Seco north of the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena will be getting a makeover this spring, another step to improve water quality, habitat and appearance in the celebrated stream near the Rose Bowl. Nature lovers, hikers and a small native fish that once thrived in the stream should be pleased at this model of cleaning up urban waterways.
     The $2.5 million Central Arroyo Stream Restoration Program will bring changes in the stream itself, along the banks and trails, and at drainage points.
     A major goal is to prepare the stream for reintroduction, perhaps next year, of the Arroyo chub, a 3-5 inch fish native to the Arroyo Seco and other Southern California streams. A few of the silver-and-green fish looked on from their small aquarium at the Jan. 16 ceremony under the Colorado Street Bridge that launched the program. As the Mayor and others described the plans to dozens of onlookers, a lively stream below filled the air with an inviting roar, thanks to the welcome flow released from Devil's Gate Dam after recent rains.
      To make the unchanneled sections of the stream ready for the returning chub, boulders from work elsewhere in the arroyo will be placed in the water to form backwater pools and riffles, recreating natural habitat where the little fish can nibble on restored native plants along with algae and insects, while invasive nonnative species are removed. Storm water flowing into the arroyo will be cleaned up to enhance the natural environment. In Rose Bowl Parking Lot I, the long lot paralleling the channel near the Aquatic Center, rock swales with native plants will be placed to give the lot a park-like feel and to capture oil and grease in rainwater flowing across the lot. Throughout Pasadena, the city will install more than 500 full-capture trash inserts in storm drains.
     The banks along the stream will be stabilized to curb erosion and sediment. Trails along the arroyo will benefit from stabilization, informative signs, and better management of dog and horse droppings. Nonnative, invasive species beside the stream will be reduced, and replaced with native species, including many new trees.
     The restoration program covers 20 acres of the Central Arroyo from the Colorado Street Bridge northward to Devil's Gate Dam near the 210 Freeway. A partnership of the City of Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco Foundation, its funding comes from the California Water Resources Board.