By Brandon HENSLEY

During the community comments part of the virtual Crescenta Valley Town Council meeting on Sept. 17 concerns were raised over the installation of potential walkways and trails extending from Eagle Canyon to Two Strike Park.

Ideas from LA County Parks and Recreation surrounding an Eagle Canyon trail have been around for years, though council has previously shot down their development repeatedly, as President Harry Leon reminded council and the public over Zoom.

Leon said to date there have been no official efforts from County to establish funding or any kind of outreach.

“We have a [responsibility] to the people who are near the trail. They’d be more impacted than anyone else,” he said. “We should listen to them. There’s nothing guaranteed. Not even a plan. … We should respect people’s privacy. Yes, it is good to have a trail but not to intrude [on] people’s property.”

Leon added that councilmembers are most likely getting ahead of themselves. Vice President Aram Ordubegian agreed, saying council should focus on more immediate projects concerning Foothill Boulevard.

“We should have our next battle request to the county to kill off horrendous developments being put up on Foothill. Keep our focus straight is what I’m saying … I’d rather we focus on the Foothill issues.”

Residents Mike Leum and Paul Dutton spoke out at the meeting against the trails. Dutton called the idea an “invasion of privacy.”

“I’m not sure why this would be considered a good idea when we have so many riding and hiking trails as it is,” he said.

Leum said the cement trail would cut into the wildlife habitat and eliminate even more greenspace.

“We keep losing greenspace with every project we seem to want in this community, and I don’t know how much thought there is to what we’re going to end up living with – a bunch of cement paths,” he said.

Before Ordubegian spoke about the need to recalibrate focus, councilmember Donna Libra agreed with Dutton and Leum.

“We need to pass out letters to the community: concerns over crime. I don’t think it’s safe for our community,” she said of the possible trails. “I know 100% of the residents are going to say ‘no’ once they get notification.”

Councilmember Desiree Rabinov said she’d like to invite Parks and Rec to the meeting next month, and added she wanted to “reestablish the ad hoc parks and trail committee” council had previously.

She added she wanted to open a dialogue “so that the county could come and share with us and educate the community with what this proposed plan looks like and to also get their comments and feedback. I think that’s a critical part for them to seek money if they choose to go forward with this plan, they need community buy-in.”

Before the community comments part of the meeting, Glendale Unified School District Superintendent Vivian Eckchian gave an update on social distance learning and the upcoming condensed high school sports seasons.

Ekchian said GUSD is offering childcare for students whose parents who need it. There are a thousand students who are learning on-site in technology pods.

“I’m pleased to say it is going safely. We’re following all public health guidelines. When we hear about a case happening in someone’s family, we have testing services available to us. We send them to the home of the family,” Eckchian said.

She noted GUSD will soon be sending a survey to both parents and educators to “adjust and gauge their satisfaction” with the district.

Eckchian also said schools are getting closer to offering athletic fields, but for team conditioning only; they will not be open to the public.

District board member Jennifer Freemon said California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has condensed the 2020-21 sports seasons into two short seasons. There are typically four.

“Anything the kids do will have to be outdoors,” she said of the fields. “At the this point it doesn’t appear we will have capacity for community usage.”

The next CVTC meeting is scheduled for Oct. 15 via Zoom at 7 p.m.

  Brandon Hensley