Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee to Review Its Year and Set a New Work Plan at June 23 Annual Meeting

The Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee is scheduled to hold its annual meeting Tuesday, June 23, where members will review the past year’s accomplishments, elect officers and establish a work plan to guide their advice to the Pasadena City Council through the coming year.

The committee advises the City Council on matters related to Hahamongna Watershed Park under Section 2.150.110 of the Pasadena Municipal Code. Because the panel is strictly advisory, its votes carry no independent legal force; any binding decision about the park, its master plan, its budget or the future of its vacant Annex would rest with the City Council, which retains final authority.

According to the agenda, the new business includes reviewing and approving the committee’s attendance record and report of accomplishments for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, electing officers for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 and establishing a work plan for the new fiscal year.

Much of the year’s work centered on the park’s Annex, a former U.S. Forest Service site the city is preparing to open to outside groups through a Request for Proposal process. Staff reported that the city conducted a site walk with potential proposers, noted strong interest from multiple parties, and would begin drafting the scope and requirements for the proposals.

Environmental oversight figured heavily. The committee received updates from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works on the completion of a sediment-removal project, on reservoir clean-up survey results and on the broader Devil’s Gate Reservoir Restoration Project. Members tracked invasive-plant monitoring by the Pasadena Audubon Society and a planned invasive-removal effort with the California Conservation Corps, and heard the Oak Grove Disc Golf Club describe proposed native plantings. Efforts to reestablish communication with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Southern California Edison stalled over unresponsiveness, and several meetings were canceled. The committee also set Oct. 10 for a community event day.

Among the committee’s materials is a presentation, made for a coalition of local nonprofits by Lois Brunet of the Pasadena Audubon Society, outlining a vision to transform vacant buildings on the former forest-service site into a roughly 5.63-acre Climate Resilience Environmental Education Center. The concept traces back to the 2010 addendum to the Hahamongna Master Plan. The coalition — Outward Bound Adventures, the Pasadena Audubon Society, Arlington Garden and the Arroyo Seco Foundation — says it would co-lead the design and build-out and ultimately manage the center, built around conservation training that engages historically absent populations, school-based and on-site environmental education, and funding for design, restoration and rehabilitation.

As envisioned, the center would reuse existing structures, pursue LEED or another environmental certification, run on solar power and include classrooms, an auditorium, exhibition space, overnight dormitories for schoolchildren, a café and interpretive trails to the Arroyo Seco, Hahamongna and the park’s nursery. Programming would span conservation careers and exhibitions on local ecosystems, biodiversity loss, the local water crisis and climate resilience.

The committee currently includes Chair Howard Tan and Vice-Chair Suzanne York, with three seats vacant; Jose Mireles, the city’s parks superintendent, serves as staff liaison. Whatever the panel recommends June 23, the Annex’s future would still depend on decisions the City Council has yet to make.

The Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, in City Yards, Public Works Building, 233 West Mountain Street, Second Floor, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.