By Julie BUTCHER

After wading through four-and-a-half hours of financial reports, playground updates, and neighborhood building disputes, at close to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the Glendale City Council finally heard from supporters and friends of Rockhaven.

Last week it was reported that the Council had abruptly ended negotiations with the developer for the property in the 2700 block of Honolulu Ave.

Cindy Anderson was one of the speakers who stuck it out on Tuesday night.

“Two years ago, when you made the decision, I was here, and we cheered and clapped and thought we’d won and this was done,” she said to the council. “Now, here we are again. When you made that decision, you did your own research; you didn’t just listen to staff. I urge you to do the same now. All of the businesses that have expressed interest in being part of the new Rockhaven Historic Park, the possibilities for this jewel of Glendale, I urge you to re-open negotiations to make this happen.”

“We don’t need another block of condos,” Anderson added. “No one wants that.”

Elisa Jordan, local historian and author of the 2018 book “Rockhaven Sanitarium: The Legacy of Agnes Richards,” implored the Council to appreciate the significance in history of Rockhaven.

“In my research,” she said, “I’ve had the pleasure of looking deep into the history of Rockhaven and it became clear to me that there’s no place like it. Not just in Glendale or in the county or in California or even in the United States. There’s no place like this anywhere. And we have it here in our community.”

where. And we have it here in our community.”

Jordan continued by giving some background of the property.

“This property was opened in 1923 by a nurse named Agnes Richards. This was just three years after women won the right to vote, so that’s pretty extraordinary that a woman was able to open a business like this in our own community. Agnes was a pioneering businesswoman, a part of our community; she was active in local clubs and sat on the board of a bank. She hired women to take care of women, allowing local women a career path, decades before the women’s movement. She believed in investing in both the inside and outside of the property, making the inside comforting and healing and investing in beautifying the landscaping outside for the community looking in, while providing cutting-edge mental healthcare no one else was doing. This is Hollywood history and women’s history.”

Jordan summarized by referencing the people who sat for more than four hours to show their support for the development of the Rockhaven property and the forward-thinking people of the past.

“My family has been in Southern California for more than 100 years. They thought ahead for people like me. Agnes felt the same way. It’s time for us to pay it forward and open the property as a park for everyone to enjoy.”

Joanna Linkchorst, president and lead tour guide of the local non-profit Friends of Rockhaven, noted that the community group has been following the progress of Gangi Development, the firm chosen by the City of Glendale to pursue the development of the three-plus acres.

“We’ve received copies of all the progress reports through the public records process and we can confirm that all the deadlines have been met, tenants are lined up, and that the plan seems viable,” Linkchorst said. “Friends of Rockhaven continues to endorse the Gangi plan.”

“This property is run by the parks department because it was always supposed to be made into a park. But if, in the wave of incoming park measure funding, Quimby funds, housing prices doubling in the last 10 years increasing property taxes, and the new sales tax increases, you still can’t see your way to making this unique treasure into a park, you have found a group [that] will do it for you,” Linkchorst said. “They hoped to get a little help since it will be an expensive endeavor, what with the way it has been treated for 10 years, and they will be bringing in businesses and more sales taxes. The restaurant and winery are still hanging in there and there are many beautiful businesses aimed at art and healing that have turned in letters of intent. They’ve been working to be able to donate space for a museum.”

Linkchorst also referenced lost revenue from a music video that wanted to tape at the site adding, “Gangi is ready to start making this happen now.”

Linkchorst commented on emails the group had reviewed regarding a potential hotel proposed for the site. She said the hotel plan would irrevocably change the buildings and grounds and estimated that, after five years, occupancy taxes would stop coming into the City because “no one really ever wanted to spend $300 a night to stay in Verdugo City.” She added that if at that point the property was sold, the new owners could do “whatever they want with it. The historic designation doesn’t protect anything if the City doesn’t enforce it.”

“There’s a saying in the historical museum community,” Linkchorst said, “about the power of place. This place has power, the power to draw in people from across the county, across the country. It is owned by the public and we want our park to finally get opened for us to enjoy. Look into what has been happening for the last two years rather than just abandon it. Please.”

Matthew Gangi addressed the Council, unrolling detailed engineering plans and sharing binders of documents previously submitted to the city.

“Gangi stands ready and willing to go forward with this amazing project,” he said. “Once we were finally able to gain access to the property, we measured every detail of the property, inside and out. The [city] staff said no survey was ever done, so we hired a surveyor who made dimensioned drawings and modeled them as ‘as-built’ drawings and conceptual site plans for each of the buildings. We had a mold analysis completed and paid for a third-party appraisal, again responding to a request from staff. We have in-hand 35 letters of intent from businesses eager to be part of Rockhaven historic park, 15 that we recommend going forward. We’ve figured out how to charge zero rent to the museum, as we’ve been asked, and have agreed to pay prevailing wages for the project, again as requested. We’ve expanded the amount of parking proposed to benefit the community. We’ve done utility studies, both electrical and gas, and commissioned architectural renderings. We hired an historical architect to ensure we’re able to meet every specification detailed by the Secretary of the Interior for historic status.”

“We’ve met every deadline and provided everything we’ve been asked for,” Gangi finished, “and we are excited to move forward with our winning proposal.”

The conversation on Tuesday night was limited since Rockhaven was not on the Council agenda; therefore, the council could not comment on several of the issues raised. They did agree to revisit the issues in a future closed session.

After the meeting, Gangi expressed his company’s determination to move forward with the Rockhaven historic park project.

“I grew up here. My family is committed to this project and we want to deliver it to our community,” he said. “We’ve met every timeframe, every request from the City, and we’re ready to keep going to make it happen.”

Linkchorst added that the Friends of Rockhaven will be working to continue keeping pressure on the Council to “do the right thing.” She urges calls and emails to each councilmember by supporters. Visit the City of Glendale website for council email addresses.

  Julie BUTCHER