By Mary O’KEEFE

At the June 21 meeting of the CV Town Council, the Council voted to send its approval of the revised Community Standard District, which had been vetted by the Land Use Committee, to the County Board of Supervisors.

Deputy Alex Covian, volunteer coordinator at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, then shared with the audience details about the upcoming rummage sale on July 28, which starts at 7 a.m. This is a fundraiser sponsored by the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s volunteers. Covian said the station is looking for donations of furniture, toys, working electronics – almost anything that can be offered for sale – with proceeds benefitting the station. Anyone who has donations can bring them by the station at 4554 Briggs Ave. or, if they need to have donations picked up, they can call Dep. Covian at (818) 236-4021.

California Highway Patrol Officer Cooper then reported that officers were at the CV High School graduation earlier in the month.

“We had three units that worked,” he said. “There was a lot of traffic.”

He added that, even though there were a lot of people, most were respectful but CHP officers did have to hand out a couple of citations. He also spoke about units focusing on the Angeles Crest Highway with special enforcement operations.

Members of the audience shared their concerns about cars racing on neighborhood streets like on Harmony Place from Briggs Avenue to Two Strike Park on Rosemont Avenue. Cooper said he will have units check this out but encouraged people to call the CHP station adding the more information he receives the better.

Lisa Woung from the Dept. of Public Works of Los Angeles County gave an update on the construction of the medians along Foothill Boulevard.

“It’s finally here, guys,” Woung said at the beginning of the presentation.

This particular project was brought to the attention of Public Works in 2013 by CVTC former presidents Leslie Dickson and Robbyn Battles and present Council member Desiree Rabinov, Woung said.

“They spearheaded [the project] and we went back and forth on the design,” she said. “The real engineering for us is that there are so many utilities under the road. We had to design around them, and had to be sensitive to all the utilities.”

That process included exploring Foothill Boulevard and digging holes into the road to make certain engineers knew exactly where water, gas, cable and other utility lines were located.

Current CVTC president Harry Leon and the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce have been in discussions with Woung regarding the time frame for construction.

There are seven planned medians planned along Foothill Boulevard from Briggs Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue. There will be a break in front of the La Crescenta Library so as to not interfere with the left-hand turning lanes at La Crescenta Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

Although this version of the project began in 2013, the idea for medians had been brought up to the DPW almost two decades ago. But at that time there was resistance from a couple of people, which was enough to stop the project.

“Those people were not from the area,” Woung said.

This time there seems to be quite a bit of support. Excel Paving Company won the bid for the project at $989,000 and construction is to begin sometime between the end of August and the first of September. Woung said the department will make certain to notify schools, the CVTC, CV Chamber of Commerce and CV Weekly of all traffic closures during the construction. Completion of the project is scheduled by Thanksgiving.

The medians have been very well thought-out, from the installation of plants to the new La Crescenta sign that will be placed inside the median. Woung spoke to several community members about the type of plants that should be featured. It was decided that several will be California native plants as well as other types of plants that will be drought-resistant.

“The Welcome to La Crescenta sign can’t be taller than three feet and will be lighted,” she said. “We are looking at your rocks and [what we are using] are really your rocks.”

Woung said the design team went to the Dunsmore debris basin and is going to be able to get all the rocks they need for decoration.

“And for free,” she added.

The next general meeting of the CV Town Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 19.

  Mary Okeefe