The grant, awarded through the voter-approved Measure A program and announced March 17 by the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District, will pay for community engagement, concept alternatives, preliminary design work, and a funding strategy for future improvements to water quality, ecological health, and public access in what the city describes as one of Pasadena’s most significant natural open space areas, according to the City Manager’s Weekly Newsletter published March 19.
The award is part of the largest competitive Measure A investment in the program’s history — more than $78 million funding 72 projects across 48 organizations countywide, according to the RPOSD. Pasadena’s grant falls in the Planning and Design category.
Los Angeles County Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Pasadena, presented a $500,000 check to Public Works Director Greg de Vinck and Stormwater Program Administrator Dawn Petschauer, according to the city newsletter.
The Lower Arroyo has been described as Pasadena’s only designated nature preserve. The City Council declared it a Cultural Landmark in 1977, and master plans for the Arroyo Seco were adopted between 2003 and 2005, according to the city’s Public Works Department. The new study builds on that prior planning work, the city said.
According to the RPOSD grant description, the study will produce concept alternatives, planning-level cost estimates, and 10 percent design for improvements that could include stormwater management, habitat restoration, trail connectivity, and ecological enhancements. The study area extends from the Colorado Street Bridge to the city boundary near South Pasadena, east of the Arroyo Seco channel.
The city said the study will incorporate a community-driven approach, with input from residents and local stakeholders to ensure future improvements reflect community priorities. The effort supports broader city goals of improving water quality and expanding public use of the Arroyo Seco corridor, according to the newsletter.
The feasibility study is intended to position Pasadena to pursue future construction funding through Measure A and other state and regional programs, the city said.
Measure A, formally known as the Safe, Clean Neighborhood Parks and Beaches Measure, is a parcel tax approved by 75 percent of Los Angeles County voters in November 2016. Since its passage, RPOSD has awarded more than $225 million to cities, nonprofits, and park agencies countywide, according to the district.
The 2026 grant cycle drew requests for nearly two-and-a-half times the funding available, prompting RPOSD to increase its award pool from a planned $58 million to more than $78 million, the district said. Nearly two-thirds of the funding went to communities identified as having high park need.
“Today is what Measure A was built for: real dollars, real projects, and real progress in communities that need parks and green space,” Norma E. García-González, director of the county Department of Parks and Recreation and of RPOSD, said in a press release announcing the countywide awards.
The Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy also received a $247,500 grant in the same award cycle for a separate project at Devil’s Gate Dam in the Arroyo Seco, according to the RPOSD awards list.
The Lower Arroyo Seco features archery ranges, a casting pond, the Memorial Grove, and low-flow streams constructed in 1997 as part of an earlier restoration effort, according to the city’s Public Works Department. Residents have used the Arroyo Seco for recreation for more than a century — as far back as 1887, Pasadena citizens recognized the land should become a park, according to the city.
The study’s timeline and schedule for community engagement have not yet been announced.
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