Claremont has always prided itself on being a visionary city, a community unafraid of finding a new way of getting something done, a pioneering city.
So it's fitting that the town finds itself having to cut a new path to Johnson's Pasture in the north part of town. The current trailhead, situated as it is in a small cul-de-sac on Via Santa Catarina in the Claremont's Claraboya neighborhood, has always been problem. Because there's no parking lot, cars fill up the small street, making for trouble with the neighbors there.
Now that the city has purchased the pasture and has added the land to its Wilderness Park, the homes next to the trailhead have felt a heavy impact from increased traffic and crime.
It's just another unintended consequence in a city full of unanticipated problems that were easily foreseeable had the blinders not been on. Remember the Claremont 400's first scheme to buy Johnson's Pasture - one that failed miserably in 2006? Or that extra $1 million we had to pay to purchase the land after the state grant the 400 had promised us fell through because of the way the deed language was miswritten?
The problem will come before the city's Traffic and Transportation Commission this Thursday, and the city is considering a number of actions, including establishing a new trailhead and parking area at the north end of Mountain Ave. Will Bigham wrote about the problem in the Daily Bulletin:
The Traffic and Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider the proposal at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday at City Hall.
At a commission meeting in February, one resident of Via Santa Catarina spoke at length about the new problems in his once-quiet neighborhood.
David Jacks said that four of the residents' cars had been broken into, couples had been seen having sex in public, beer bottles were left in yards and statues were stolen out of front yards. The litany of complaints continued for six minutes.
"It's creepy," Jacks said. "It's gotten to the point where something that was once really nice has gotten really out of hand."
Because the solution proposed by the city would not cut off public access, conservationists who were the driving force behind the purchase of Johnson's Pasture say they approve of the idea.
"If they wait and put in a trailhead and have adequate parking, then that's fine," said Suzanne Thompson, head of the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy.
"There's a huge other constituency in Claremont that uses Johnson's Pasture," Thompson added. "The solution needs to work for them as well."
Councilman Peter Yao also said he was supportive of the idea.
He said that if the area at the northern end of Mountain Avenue is not large enough to accommodate visitors' needs - there is space for about 15 cars - a parking lot may be considered.
Leave it to Councilmember Yao to float the parking lot idea. Yao seems to have no problem fitting inappropriate uses into residential neighborhoods. The Padua Theater renovation proposal by Arteco Partners, for instance, anticipates 50,000 visitors a year into an area surrounded by the Wilderness Park and single-family homes. Yao is all for those 50,000 and more if we can jam it in there.
What is it exactly that Yao doesn't like about Claremont residents?
Besides the new parking arrangement and trailhead, the Traffic and Transportation Commission will consider approving a preferential permit policy requiring people parking on Via Santa Catarina to display a special resident placard. You can read the city's staff report on the issue here.
Something will be needed if the current trailhead is closed. As we wrote in February, the ascent to Johnson's Pasture will become much more difficult without the access from Via Santa Catarina.
And we have no idea if there's any truth to the rumor that the city's Off Track Trolley Citizen's Committee has come up its own solution to the problem: a funicular. That might, however, explain the prison work crews and loads of railroad ties and steel rails being trucked up Mountain Ave.
Photo Right:
City Engineer Craig Bradshaw oversees the installation of railway to Johnson's Pasture. Train will cut travel time and speed mail delivery, city staff report says.
Thursday, May 22, 2008, 7:00PM
Traffic and Transportation Commission Meeting
225 West Second Street - City Council Chamber
Claremont
(909) 399-5460
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