La Canada Panel Decides Against Sewer District Plan

A citizen’s committee studying sewage problems in La Canada Flintridge decided Monday to recommend that the La Canada Flintridge City Council abandon plans for a sewer assessment district for a one-mile stretch of land along Foothill Boulevard.

The committee, formed to look into the plan and examine alternatives, concluded that opposition to the plan was too strong to pursue it further, committee chairman Walt Downhower said.

Petitions supporting the district had been presented to the City Council in 1985 by several property owners along Foothill Boulevard between Palm Drive and Briggs Avenue. But concerns about assessment costs caused many of the owners to turn against the plan.

The city had expected installation of the proposed sewer system to cost about $950,000, but later discovered it would cost $1.6 million, Public Works Director Fullmer Chapman said.

Downhower estimated that 53% to 57% of property owners in the proposed district now oppose it.

The city has been looking for ways to deal with its sewage disposal problem. Most of the homes in the city use septic tanks for sewage disposal, but there have been frequent problems with leaking tanks and improper disposal.

Chapman said there have been some preliminary discussions with the city of Glendale about providing sewer hookups for individual parcels of land next to existing sewers. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for July 11 at 7 p.m. at the city offices. The committee is scheduled to make a full report of its findings and recommendations to the City Council July 25.