Pasadena City Council approves potential sale of seized 710 freeway project homes
Pasadena City Council approves potential sale of seized 710 freeway project homes
The Pasadena City Council, Monday, June 23, approved authorizing the city manager to negotiate the sale of 17 properties that the city purchased from Caltrans, which were seized decades ago by the state agency for the failed 710 freeway extension.
The action was taken as part of the meeting’s consent agenda – the portion of the meeting meant for council action that has been deemed routine by members of city staff.
It was approved in a 7-0 vote, along with several other items. Mayor Victor Gordo had stepped out of the council chamber during that portion of the meeting and therefore did not vote.
In the 1950s, 60s and 70s Caltrans seized about 460 properties in Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno in order to complete a project that would have connected the northern stub of the 710 freeway with the 210 freeway. The project was shelved in 2018.
In 2023, Caltrans offered the city of Pasadena 17 vacant properties for the city to purchase. Of the 17 properties, two will have historic preservation covenants recorded on title, 10 are contributors to one of the two National Register Landmark districts and four of the 17 may be individually eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a staff report.
Pasadena’s Housing Department identified four smaller non-historic properties as potential affordable home ownership opportunities.
“Staff will return to City Council with a recommendation to sell these properties to a non-profit developer for rehab and subsequent sale as affordable homeownership,” the staff report read.
Earlier this month, the NAACP Pasadena branch hosted a screening at Victory Bible Church of “Amplify” an oral history documentary on the people who the 710 project displaced and how it continues to impact their lives.
The Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Master Plan aims to use a restorative justice framework to redevelop the 50-acre stub located in Northwest Pasadena into a “dynamic community space.” The stub refers to the unfinished section of the 710 freeway located in Pasadena.
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