Chris Holden

On July 12, 2010, the Pasadena City Council considered the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee’s request for consideration to reopen the issue of building additional sports fields in Hahamongna Watershed Park.

The council deadlocked on the motion, which would have established a process for removing all playing fields from the master plan. A subsequent motion passed eliminating one of the two remaining fields identified in the Hahamongna Watershed Park Master Plan. This field would sit squarely in the flood basin. The remaining field has an approximate $1 million grant for construction as a soccer field, but will need to go through an extensive environmental impact analysis before it can be realized.

Notwithstanding that technical point, it is clear to me that as important as playing fields are, the upper Arroyo Seco is a rare slice of nature’s history that has remained fairly unchanged over the decades–a riparian habitat offering city dwellers a glimpse at what the landscape looked like when indigenous people inhabited the region.

There are many who have spoken more knowledgeably and articulately on this issue than I, but for those who continue to muster the passion and energy to fight to preserve nature–you’ve got my support.

I would hope, however, that the money earmarked for this site as a playing field for the Northwest quadrant of the city could be reapplied to the tattered, underutilized sports field at John Muir High School near Woodbury Road and Casitas Avenue. To do so, would benefit not only the community at large, but the kids at John Muir.

The Hahamonga Watershed Park has value beyond a natural oasis. It offers us the opportunity to plan our future water needs more efficiently. Managing water conservation, storm drain systems, and seasonal flood maintenance gives Pasadena residents greater storage and distribution capacity and creates less reliance on imported water, which usually is higher priced.

Currently we must focus on the effects of the Station Fire on the basin. With more than 250,000 cubic yards of debris washed into the area, the run-off from the fire needs to be  removed responsibly so that we can pursue the valuable water benefits that exist there.

As a member of the council who has been part of this debate since 1989, I recognize the passion on all sides of this issue and understand the desire to find open space for playing fields in our city. I believe that suitable sites exist for multipurpose fields. I have mentioned one, and there are others and we should pursue them proactively, but Hahamongna is not one of them.