Beautification Work Around Pasadena You May Have Noticed

The Department of Public Works Parks and Natural Resources Division is expected to report Tuesday on completed citywide park improvement projects in Pasadena for the period July 1 to September 30, 2019.

The report will be presented to the Recreation and Parks Commission meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at City Yards in the second floor meeting room, at 233 West Mountain Street.

The Division oversees the maintenance and care of the Citywide parks system in Pasadena. Their crews and contractors are responsible for maintaining turf fields and playgrounds in the City, among others.

A preliminary report by the PNR Division showed they have completed field turf renovations in Victory Park and Hahamongna Watershed Park (Oak Grove), Area-H. Work included aerifying, overseeding, fertilizing of the turf and calibrating the irrigation systems.

The crews were able to do this despite a number of challenges including weather, drought, reduced watering times and heavy compaction that present turf managers with challenges in turf maintenance. The report said the monthly field renovation schedule is proving itself to produce safer and more enjoyable athletic field turf conditions.

Crews also completed rehabilitating and replanting the entire length of the Arroyo Parkway median between Green Street and Glenarm Street, according to the report. Park staff worked early morning hours as to not interrupt traffic on this major corridor. The crews worked quickly and efficiently to remove, replant and lay down a layer of mulch to finish the project.

PNR crews also obtained permits and agreements needed to perform maintenance work within the low flow streams located in the Lower Arroyo Seco, and completed the project to restore the low-flow stream beds so that they may operate as originally intended: to divert water from the flood control channel and allow it to flow naturally through meandering stream beds. The permits came from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The stream beds along the Lower Arroyo Seco are woven into a system of walking trails that allow park users to walk alongside and connect with this natural resource that is highly valued by the City of Pasadena and its residents.

During the period, crews also completed cleanup of the New York Drive median as part of improvement efforts on the New York Drive Memorial to 9/11. The crews laid a new layer of mulch to finish the project, so anyone driving down the avenue is presented with a median with a beautiful landscape and clean organic mulch.

Crews also replenished the Fibar surface at the playground at Villa Parke during the quarter, the report showed. Fibar, an engineered system of wood chips that is ADA compliant, is maintained on a weekly basis by raking back the chips in areas where they arev displaced by heavy use such as under the swings and slides. The maintenance of the City’s playgrounds include the annual refilling of the Fibar surface in the parks.