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Revamped park won't be used to catch storm water
by Robb Fulcher
The city council on Tuesday turned thumbs down to a plan to use a revamped Valley Park as a storm water basin to protect 28 homes to the south from chronic flooding.
The plan by Los Angeles County engineers would have called for new pipes to move water from overflowing storm drains into the park at Valley Drive and Gould Avenue, turning much of the park into a temporary lake during heavy rains.
The water would seep into the ground within six hours after rains had stopped, said project manager Steven Sheridan. The project would have required workers with heavy machinery to lower much of the park's surface by two feet and build new storm-water pipes and a catch basin. The project would have cost $3 million, half of which would be borne by the city.
Sheridan pitched the plan at a workshop on ongoing plans to refurbish the popular but tattered park, Hermosa's largest public playground and picnic area, excluding the beach.
Only one councilman, Mayor JR Reviczky, supported the storm basin plan. He pointed out that officials have rejected a number of other plans to prevent rainwater from regularly coming indoors at the 28 homes.
"I think what we're telling these people is tough luck," Reviczky chided his fellow council members, who worried about the cost of the project and the possible effects of standing water upon Valley Park.
Councilwoman Julie Oakes promised to look hard for other ways to help "the 28 families," including the possibility of aiding them in raising the foundations of their homes.
Facelift goes forward
Council members also heard from their consultants, David Evans and Associates Inc., on the long-planned facelift for Valley Park.
The consultants are in the process of preparing architectural drawings for a revamped park with a "rustic feel." The plans will be formally presented before the council, whose members have promised to hold public hearings before any work is done.
"Our goal is not to change the park but to embellish it, to shine it up a little and make it friendlier," said Stephen Francis, a parks and recreation commissioner who sits on a subcommittee that rides herd on the revamping project.
As the tentative plan stands, workers will replace the nasty public restroom building and much of the park's play equipment, decrease the size of the south end fire pit, add new picnic tables and benches, resurface the basketball area, and rebuild the soccer field, adding better drainage.
The price tag would reach the $1.5 million range. The project will proceed in stages as the city secures recreation-related funds, including fees from construction developers, money from the state, and leftover money from revamping the greenbelt.
The council tentatively plans to eliminate two of the four basketball goals, in an attempt to encourage casual play and discourage serious full-court play, for which the Clark field courts were designed. Like the Clark baskets, the new Valley baskets would be adjustable in height.
The council tentatively decided against a plan to enlarge the soccer field to regulation size. Although the field is only usable for formal play by kids under 9 years, an enlarged field would have stood only five feet from the basketball court, causing too much crowding, council members said.
Council members also agreed to run concrete paths to the park's major areas of use, in compliance with federal law on handicapped access. Council members will consider muted colors of concrete to make the paths easy on the eye. ER