Seven small playing fields would replace an aquifer-charging percolation pond

February 07, 2000

By Mary Schubert
Staff Writer

PASADENA A proposal to squeeze several more soccer fields into Hahamongna Watershed Park will be presented today to the Pasadena City Council, two weeks after the council directed city staff members to find some suitable recreational land in the 300-acre park.

In the original proposed master plan for Hahamongna, which lies north of the Foothill (210) Freeway near Oak Grove Drive, 41.7 acres had been set aside for all sorts of recreation. Of that total, four multi-sport fields which can be used for soccer take up 10.5 acres, according to a report by Rosa Laveaga, a city parks supervisor.

Under the revised plan the staff will present, seven soccer fields measuring 40 yards by 60 yards could be created in an area that originally was supposed to contain a "percolation pond" where water can seep through the land into the aquifer, Laveaga's report says. Pasadena gets much of its water supply from underground wells.

The new proposals also call for four fields to be created on land where a pair of 5-acre lakes were planned, according to Laveaga.

City officials also met with representatives of American Youth Soccer Organization and Villa Parke Youth Soccer, who told them that more than half of their players are ages 10 and younger. Those kids play on small-size fields, while teen-agers generally use larger 70-yard by 110-yard fields.

The City Council meets at City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 744-4333.