By Julie BUTCHER

On Tuesday night, the Glendale City Council voted unanimously to move forward with plans to revitalize the property that houses the former sanitarium Rockhaven, authorizing an additional $468,875 to consultant SWA.

As city Community Development director Bradley Calvert explained, the city has received an $8 million grant from the state, through the office of State Senator Anthony Portantino, to “begin the process of rehabilitating the Rockhaven site.” Prior Council votes gave direction to focus on reopening the site to the public and developing the park element of overall plans with the “museum element following and then the rehabilitation/reuse of the other buildings.”

The Council reviewed schematic plans and voted to move forward into “final design and [the development of] construction documentation, including the grounds, park component that would be open to the public; ADA accessibility; and the museum itself, core and shell, as well as some stabilization of existing buildings.”

Calvert indicated that the work would include addressing drainage issues.

“ADA accessibility is paramount,” Calvert told the Council. “We can’t open the site without this. The site needs to be accessible.”

Co-CEO and local SWA Group principal Gerdo Aquino offered an overview of plans that were amended based on feedback received during an extensive community presentation on July 10 at the Montrose Library and input from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. Aquino emphasized the importance of maintaining the historic character of the property through the use of appropriate materials, focusing on indoor-outdoor usages, and rebuilding the garden atmosphere that was critical to the historic purpose of Rockhaven. The site will be accessible through three entrances to “define the most inviting and logical walking path:” work will minimize the amount of reconfiguring and will maintain the historic character while planning for future occupants and opening access to the remaining buildings, the consultants explained.

Immediate cost estimates to rehabilitate the Pines Cottage, establish a safe and accessible path of travel from each street (Honolulu and Paradise avenues), address drainage issues to protect all of the buildings and to rehabilitate planting and irrigation adjacent to the museum building is $6.53 million. Additional landscaping is estimated to cost $850,000 and $495,000 to rehabilitate the remaining pedestrian walkways, for a total of $7.875 million.

Allan Durham offered public comments opposing additional expenditures to consultants in favor of funding the actual work needed.

Friends of Rockhaven president Joanna Linkchorst commended the changes made to the plans and advocated for “the least amount of change and the most amount of preservation.”

“Rockhaven is the last sanitarium in a valley that was full of them,” Linkchorst said urging plans to be amended to keep all of the three bathrooms intact as part of the museum space and building added restroom space outside the museum and keeping irreplaceable “tiles that Agnes picked out.” She encouraged the city to include “volunteers to get in and help out to save more money and make amazing things happen. Girl Scouts are eager to get in there and get to work on the Rose Path, for instance.”

Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian wants to “use every building.” He urged the running of utilities to each of the buildings on the site as well as protecting all of the existing buildings.

“If we cannot waterproof these buildings, they will continue to deteriorate,” Councilmember Gharpetian said, envisioning future uses of the property as a community center and community park.

Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian continued to envision the relocation of the city library somewhere on the Rockhaven site “so we can upgrade the fire station.”

Community Development deputy director Mark Berry suggested that funding remaining from budgeted allocations to fix roofs could be used for additional maintenance and preservation, such as painting and protecting exposed wood in the Acorn and Coulter cottages.

In other business, the Council approved up to $392,139 for a comprehensive operational analysis and integration study of the city’s Beeline operations. A transit route analysis of the bus line was last conducted in 2018-19.

The Council debated and voted 3-2 to reconsider changes to the process by which members of the city’s boards and commissions are appointed. Mayor Elen Asatryan requested reconsideration of the Council’s previous decision to return to a system by which each councilmember appoints a member of each commission rather than making appointments using panels of councilmembers to select commissioners and board members.

“I’m against the panel system in general,” councilmember Gharpetian stated, adding that all of the city commissions and boards should stop making decisions until the appointment process was fixed.

Councilmember Ara Najarian agreed.

“I’m not going to vote in favor of bringing this back,” he said. “I don’t think it’s good government to agendize an item, have discussions on it, take public input, debate, vote and then – a short time later – decide that you want to flip that and go back. I don’t think the panel system is equitable. It doesn’t make sense procedurally or practically.”

The matter will come back to the Council for further deliberation in two weeks.

Councilmember Gharpetian raised concerns about changes to zoning made in conjunction with plans for the Verdugo Wash.

“I have lost my faith and trust, to be honest. I’m really disappointed and very offended,” he said, noting that “thousands are opposed to this project” and that “I feel like they tried to sneak one in.”

Bradley Calvert, director of the city’s Dept. of Community Development responded.

“It was stated, it was shown on a map. I don’t know how we could possibly try to deceive you when it’s on a map on a PowerPoint in a packet attached to your report. It’s inconsistent zoning and therefore we wanted to correct that to right-of-way. It’s not impactful to the development. The Council still has the final vote on moving forward with the Verdugo Wash project.”

Representing Glendale realtors, Greg Astorian and Sevak Sohrabian shared an economic study their group, the Glendale Association of Realtors, commissioned showing the positive economic impact of real estate on the cities of Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena. Glendale’s approximately one thousand transactions, the report shows, created 930 jobs, $67 million in labor income, and generated $213.5 million in “total output.” Real estate transactions across the tri-city area generate $27 million in annual property tax and $94 million in state, local and federal taxes. The report is available from the Glendale Association of Realtors at https://www.gaor.org/economic-study-2024/.

Finally, the Council issued a proclamation celebrating Aug. 26 as Women’s Equality Day and announced a Glendale Women’s Equality Day event on Monday, Sept. 9 starting at 5 p.m. at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., for an evening of panels discussions, information about city contracting and employment, small business and economic development resources, and policy insights for women and girls.