Water Rates, East Colorado Boulevard Plan, Leaf Blowers due to Come Before Council in Coming Weeks

The City Council is due to return on Monday, Feb. 28 with a public hearing on the East Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan. The leaf blower ordinance could return also. In December the Municipal Services Committee unanimously voted in favor of the ordinance.

The amended regulation would allow electric lawn blowers and would explore programs to provide for residential homeowners and tenants, residents who are professional gardeners, and/or non-resident gardeners who operate in Pasadena to purchase electric devices with a rebate.

Gas-powered leaf blower emit 23 times more carbon monoxide and 300 times more hydrocarbons than a 2011 Ford Raptor high-performance pickup.

Many local residents have had issues with gas powered leaf blowers.

The city is updating all eight of its specific plans as part of the 2018 Our Pasadena program, launched as a step toward the implementation of the city’s General Plan, which guides overall future growth and development.

The plan area includes all parcels with frontage on East Colorado Boulevard between Catalina Avenue and the city’s eastern boundary and all parcels with frontage on Allen Avenue between Colorado Boulevard. and the 210 Freeway.

“The East Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan was created to encourage a vibrant mix of land uses, a unified streetscape and a series of distinctive places along a portion of Colorado Boulevard, approximately three miles in length, extending eastward from Catalina Avenue to the eastern City limits at Sycamore Avenue,” according to the city’s website.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposed East Colorado Specific Plan update last year, but not before implementing key amendments to allow for drive-through restaurants, the reduction of required parking spaces in select areas around Pasadena City College, and a three-foot setback along Colorado Boulevard.

The City Council will also consider zoning code text amendments to the city’s existing historic preservation ordinance.

The Planning Department is recommending that a series of “clean-up amendments” be adopted to return the landmark district process to a neighborhood-driven process.

In April, a series of amendments to the HPO became effective. The intent of these amendments was to address public concerns and ensure that the Ordinance reflects the best practices in historic preservation.

In March the City Council is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on water rate increases.

Pasadena Water and Power is seeking approval from the council to raise water rates by 7.1 percent starting in April this year, and by an additional 7.2 percent to start in January 2023.

PWP said the rate adjustments are necessary in order to increase revenue in the midst of higher costs for water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District, reduced sales due to Pasadena’s assertive conservation goals, and the higher costs for operating and maintaining the City’s water supply systems.

Additional costs include the pumping and treatment of local groundwater, and an increased level of capital investment on infrastructure projects, PWP said.