Pasadena City Council Monday, Sept. 8, approved the allowable uses and entities allowed to submit proposals to manage and maintain the Hahamongna Watershed Park annex, a portion of the 1,300-acre park.
Hahamongna Watershed Park is in the Arroyo Seco, which extends from Devil’s Gate Dam north into the San Gabriel Mountains. Six vacant former U.S. Forest Service buildings that have been empty since 2004 sit in the annex area.
The council unanimously approved the recommendation from city officials with a change requiring the contract recipient to conduct a feasibility study about which vacant buildings need to be demolished and which can be reused.
Members of the public and representatives from a coalition of eight nonprofits led by Outward Bound Adventures that have been working on creating a Climate Resilience Education and Environmental Center (CREEC), a spoke during public comment urging the City Council to shorten the request for proposal process and award the contract to CREEC, to open an environmental education center in the Hahamongna annex.
“The proposed environmental education center will provide a permanent home for hands on learning both in the classroom and in the field,” Pasadena City College Biology Professor Jessica Blickley said. “Equally important, it will serve as a vital hub to connect students with community members and environmental organizations that are working here in our local community.”
According to a city staff report, it would cost $9.73 million to repair the existing buildings and $422,000 to demolish them. In April, a city safety officer reviewed the vacant properties and found collapsed roofs, black mold, rodent infestation, water damage, presumed asbestos-containing material and presumed lead based paint.
“I myself went to go see it, I wasn’t allowed to go in because of the dangers associated with it so I think we need to be careful on the safety component … We can work into the RFP process a way to safely do a feasibility study to see what can and can’t be saved or reused,” City Manager Miguel Márquez said.
Councilmember Rick Cole cited other examples of the city partnering with nonprofit groups including the Tournament of Roses, Norton Simon, the Western Justice Center and the Pasadena Playhouse and said the city should enter into a similar partnership with whoever takes over operation of the 10-acre site.
Mayor Victor Gordo pushed back, saying those examples were different because a request for proposal was not required in those instances and that for Hahamongna Park a competitive bidding process must commence before an organization is awarded a contract.
“I don’t want any one of us to get too far ahead and be accused of having made up our mind before a contract with the comments we make tonight,” Gordo said.
Councilmember Tyron Hampton requested that the RFP process be completed in 90 days rather than the one year timeline estimated by city officials. Koko Panossian, director of parks, recreation and community services said the goal will be to make every effort to meet Hampton’s timeline.
The approved uses for the annex include nature and natural resources, watershed management, Native American history, outdoor experiential education, water resources and conservation, habitat restoration, enhancement, and/or preservation, ecosystems, sustainability, open space conservation, horsemanship and enjoyment of the outdoors.