In a unanimous vote, the City Council approved the start of a feasibility study with Los Angeles County Fire at last night’s City Council meeting. If you’ve been following Inside San Gabriel, you’re aware that the San Gabriel Fire Department was previously engaged in a tri-city fire agreement with San Marino and South Pasadena. Since that agreement was dissolved, a study was commissioned to evaluate the San Gabriel Fire Department and the services it provides to our community.

Part of that study entertained the option of exploring a contractual agreement with Los Angeles County Fire. Given the City Council’s approval to move forward, LA County Fire will now conduct a free feasibility study to examine the possibility of partnering with San Gabriel. It’s important to note that this study is not contractual or binding. Instead, the study will look at the cost and benefits from the perspective of both the City and LA County Fire.

Once the study is completed, we’ll be sure to provide you with the details.

City Council moves forward with Mission District economic analysis

An important issue for many residents, the City Council will be moving forward with an economic analysis and feasibility study to reevaluate the Mission District, with a note to program funding for the study (which would cost approximately $60,000-75,000) in the next fiscal year.

As a bit of backstory, the City adopted a Mission District Specific Plan that identified key areas of the Mission District several years ago. These sites continue to remain underutilized, so the City Council is exploring several possible options moving forward for development. This is a detailed study, so we’ll have more of this project in a future post.

City Council approves bridge maintenance contract with LA County Public Works

To comply with the Highway Bridge/Bridge Preventative Maintenance Program (you may read more about that here), the City needs to conduct safety inspections on the following bridges:

• Las Tunas Drive over the Rubio Wash
• Broadway over the Rubio Wash
• Ramona Street over the Alhambra Wash
• Mission Road over the Alhambra Wash

Since LA County Public Works is a larger agency, the City will be able to receive cost efficiencies associated with repair work. The expected cost of work is $196,000, with an out-of-pocket cost of $39,000 for the City.

Finally, the following items were approved:

• A right of way at 237 East Las Tunas Drive
• An update to the City’s pavement management system
• A contract for restroom improvements at Fire Station 51 and 52
• A 2015 State Homeland Security grant for the San Gabriel Fire Department

You may view the entire agenda here.