The City of La Cañada Flintridge announced that construction has begun on its Sister Cites Friendship Path, funded by the Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD).

For more than 25 years, the RPOSD has awarded $1.5 billion in grants to agencies and community-based organizations for park, recreational facility, trail and open space improvement projects.

When selecting a trail to benefit from this funding, the City found that the existing Descanso Trail entrance into Cherry Canyon was difficult for trail users to traverse due to its 15% slope and requires equestrian users to dismount and walk the trail. After analyzing the terrain, City staff identified an alternative route near the trail providing access to the canyon at a more manageable slope of approximately 8%.

This alternate route will be converted into a new, approximately 1,600-foot-long path and named Sister Cites Friendship Path in honor of the existing relationship with LCF’s sister city, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.

“We are grateful for this opportunity to utilize grant funds from organizations like RPOSD to fund City projects that both enrich our community and stretch our taxpayer dollars,” said La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Rick Gunter. “Revamping and maintaining our treasured community open spaces is one of many ways we prioritize the quality of LCF’s resources and facilities.”

Construction is set to be completed in late February 2024. For more information, visit https://cityoflcf.org/public-works/.

The City is now in the process of recording a deed, filing the original deed to the property in the appropriate county government office and gathering bid documents for the park. Once the preliminary stages are complete, the City will solicit construction applications to begin the work for this project in Summer 2023.

For future updates and to stay up-to-date on this project, visit https://cityoflcf.org/public-works.