200 Residents show strong opposition to County Plan to cut down 11 acres of trees in Arcadia

200 Residents show strong opposition to County Plan to cut down 11 acres of trees in Arcadia

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (DPW) public meeting to discuss the Santa Anita Sediment Removal Project attracted over 240 people on Thursday evening.
According to former planning Commissioner, Glen Owens the battle over the 11 acres of trees is “Justice vs. Power”.
Owens was impressed by the meeting Thursday “ I’ve never been to a public meeting in my 25 years as a Planning Commissioner where so many people were so passionate and informed on the issue. “ he said.

The irony of the meeting’s location wasn’t lost on one opponent to the project who pointed out that they were at Highland Oaks School trying to save Oak trees.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ issued moratorium last week that will delay the project a minimum of 30 days.
The Santa Anita Sediment Removal Project would use a conveyor belt to move 500,000 cubic yards of debris from the dam to sediment sites located within the city of Arcadia on land owned by the county.
The project area is divided into three sediment sites: upper, middle and lower. The upper and lower sediment sites are both already active, while the 23-acre middle has been left to grow. According to Glen Owen there are 179 live oak trees spread out over 11 of those 23 acres. There are also Sycamores on those 11 acres.
These 11-acres are “needed to make room for the sediment”, according to county and subsequently the trees would be removed.
As part of the project’s mitigation, the plan calls for 250,000 cubic yards of material to be placed on the lower sediment site, allowing it to reach capacity. Once at capacity, the county will “re-vegetate the approximately eight acres that make up the lower sediment site. “

The county says that Oaks and sycamores would be planted, and residents will have an opportunity to decide what the land is used for. Owens pointed out that the trail on the east side of the Santa Anita Wash is locked – but should not be. That trail is an access to Live Oak.

As mentioned previously, one of the key opponents to the County plan is Glen Owens, of Big Santa Anita Historical Society, who received thunderous applause when he said he hired an independent surveyor to see what the alternatives could be to removing trees:
The following is the letter he received as a result of the findings he personally paid for, dated December 16. Owens hired Stryker Civil Engineering:

“Subject: Santa Anita Sediment Placement Sites – Arcadia, CA

In accordance with your request we have evaluated the remaining capacity of the upper sediment placement site, the northerly limits of which is located approximately 700 feet south of the north spillway into the Santa Anita Flood Control Channel and extends to its southerly limits approximately an additional 1350 feet. This upper site consists of an upper area approximately 1050 feet long and a lower area approximately 300 feet long. The total capacity of the upper site raised to elevation 775 is approximately 250,000 CY. The designed remaining capacity of the lower sediment placement site, located at the overall site’s southerly terminus is approximately 270,000 CY. The combined capacity of these two sites is approximately 520,000 CY all contained within the Flood Control property of the City of Arcadia. We understand that the District desires to have approximately 500,000 CY available capacities for future disposal. By using the upper site described above, adequate capacity is available without having to disturb the 8 Acre Oak Tree grove lying between the upper and lower sediment placement sites. If more capacity is desired there is at least another 500,000 CY available in the upper site if allowed to spread into the adjacent City of Monrovia property. We would recommend agreements be made between the District and the Cities of Monrovia and Arcadia to allow this future expansion, thereby negating the need to fill over the existing 8 Acre Oak Grove described above. In addition we recommend planting the slopes with vegetation and trees as the fill proceeds. We utilized existing Los Angeles Department of Public Works Plans, Santa Anita Sediment Placement Site showing existing contours dated July 11, 2007 for this evaluation.

Respectfully submitted,

G. Bart Stryker
Stryker Engineering
Civil Engineering and Planning

Impassioned, educated speeches trying to get the message across that the trees have to stay were indeed the highlight of the evening. “ Our kids are suffering for Nature Deficit Disorder” one speaker said. “We will never be able to replace the trees once cut down.”
Also attending Thursday’s meeting was Lara Blakley, former Mayor of Monrovia. Blakley said there has to be an alternative to cutting down 100 year old Oak trees to place sediment the County has not yet considered. Lara Blakely was one of the key players in getting Monrovia’s Wilderness preserve a few years ago.
It seemed obvious even to the casual observer that the County of Los Angeles needs to re-visit the plan and consult the neighboring communities and citizens for their input. The Flood Control dept of the county needs to communicate with local cities according to Owens.

One lone voice in the audience did seem to agree, however, with the county plan to remove the trees.
However the majority of the participants at the meeting were obviously “reasonable conservationists” as Glen Owens calls his friends who hold the land dear to their hearts.
The majority of the audience made it crystal clear they were not happy with county plans and that they need to consider alternatives and that it’s obvious the trees do not need to be removed
Arcadia city officials including Councilman Bob Harbicht and city manager Don Penman attended Thursday’s meeting.
The DPW has presented several alternatives in the project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR), all of which were determined to be unfeasible.

Steve Kutcher, also known as The Bug Man, is a strong opponent to the County plans

The next step: Well according to Mr. Glen Owens, the County “marches to a different Drum…” and that “legal action may be necessary” to stop the county from taking such drastic action. He asserted that he and many others in Arcadia Monrovia, Sierra Madre and Pasadena are committed to this fight and feel the EIR was deceptive. The meeting on Thursday evening was proof that there are concerned citizens who care about the future of the land. “We’ve got to leave the world a better place” The City and County Flood Control needs to work together to create a “Conservation Easement “ according to Owens. This would put a stop to county plans to destroy the trees. According to Owens, The land was once owned by the City of Arcadia but was land swapped with the county for the Par 3 Golf Course some years ago.
For more information on helping preserve this 11 acres, contact Cam Stone at 476-7324.

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