Concept Plan for Arroyo Overlook Improvements Set for Wednesday Presentation

The overlook above the Lower Arroyo Seco takes in the Arroyo, the Colorado Street Bridge and the San Gabriel Mountains. It also has a dry fountain, stone retaining walls that need shoring up, and no safe way to walk down to the trail system below.

The One Arroyo Foundation, the City of Pasadena and landscape architecture firm RJM Design Group hold the second of two public workshops on those needs this Wednesday, August 26, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Brookside Golf Club, 1133 Rosemont Ave. in Pasadena.

This session is the substantive one. At the first workshop on August 1, organizers listened. Wednesday, RJM Design Group will present an initial conceptual plan along with the themes that emerged from that meeting and from an online community survey. Participants will be asked to react and refine before anything is finalized.

The Emma Dickinson Bird Sanctuary was created in 1935 in honor of a Pasadena resident and bird advocate, laid out in a circle as a quiet place to watch birds and take in the view. The tile on the central birdbath is the work of Ernest A. Batchelder, the Arts and Crafts tilemaker who lived and worked in the Lower Arroyo Seco. Project organizers call the site Pasadena’s most spectacular viewpoint.

The long-term vision includes restoring the memorial fountain, the Batchelder tile, the benches and the stairways; stabilizing the historic stone walls; improving pedestrian safety and accessibility; building a trail connection to the Lower Arroyo; expanding native habitat for birds and pollinators; and producing a site master plan to guide construction and fundraising. Planning is funded by the One Arroyo Foundation with support from private donors.

RJM Design Group, established in 1987, previously worked with the foundation and the city on the One Arroyo Trail Critical Linkages Project.

The drawings arrive Wednesday. Objecting later is harder.

The One Arroyo Overlook community listening session takes place Wednesday, August 26, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Brookside Golf Club, 1133 Rosemont Ave. in Pasadena. Admission is free. Registration is through Eventbrite; links and the community survey are posted at onearroyo.org.