Devil's Gate Dam Project Could be Larger than Expected

The county's plans to remove massive amounts of dirt and debris from the Devil's Gate Dam in the Hahamongna Watershed Park over several years could end being even larger than expected, according to an article published in the Valley Sun on Monday.

Kerjon Lee of the County Department of Public Works confirmed in an interview with Patch that the county may remove up to 4 million cubic yards of earth rather than the 1.5 to 2 million that was initially proposed by the department.

The reason for the difference, said Lee, is that the county initially envisioned the removal as an emergency project that could be started much sooner - since the department will now be doing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), officials expect it to take a year or two to get started.

That means, the county must assume that the amount of the debris will greatly increase from winter storms for the next two years, Lee said.

"We understand that the EIR process is going to take time," Lee said. "Meanwhile, we know that there will be two more storm seasons."

While the county could ultimately remove much more dirt than officials had originally suggested, the project will likely not be carried out over a larger area in the park, Lee said.  That means that the county may not remove any more trees than they had originally estimated in their proposed plan last year.  Depending on the outcome of the EIR, it could potentially still mean fewer trees are removed, Lee added.

Hauling all the extra dirt out would take longer than the three year period suggested by the county last winter, he said, but there may also be other alternatives where it might not.

For example, Lee said, the county may look at using a road in the west side of the park that the City of Pasadena is looking at building which would give them a much faster haul route than bringing the dirt out east through Windsor Avenue in Altadena.

Other alternatives to massive dirt removal will also be studied in the EIR, Lee said.

In the mean time, the county has been working on a small scale removal of dirt that is closest to the edge of the dam.  That work was done to make sure the dam can get through the upcoming winter without any serious problems, Lee said.

More updated information on the project will be made available at upcoming meetings in October.

The first meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on October 5 in the Rose Bowl Stadium's visitor's locker room.  The second will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on October 15 at La Canada Flintridge High School.