On October 11, 2022 it was announced that Nuccio’s Nursery on Chaney Trail will wind down operations in the next two to three years and that Polytechnic School (Poly) will take ‘stewardship’ of the 78-acre property in the northern Altadena foothills. The announcement was made in a joint letter from the Nuccio family and the private Pasadena school, and in a letter issued to the Poly community by the school. After nearly 90 years of operations, the world-famous camellia and azalea nursery will be closed. Polytechnic School is seeking to purchase the Nuccio parcels, comprising 1.44% of the total land area of Altadena.
In April 2024, Poly announced their plans to build ‘Poly Fields,’ an athletics campus/sports complex on the site of the current nursery. The campus would include a football/soccer/athletics stadium, a baseball stadium, and six tennis courts — each with spectator seating. The proposal also includes: a training facility, a student fitness center, a wellness center, a coaches building, batting cages, various equipment storage buildings, and a lounge. Poly Fields will also include outdoor lighting for night events, amplified sound, and a 208-vehicle underground parking structure. The closed campus would be surrounded by walls and fencing, and includes a 500 square foot “security lodge.”
It is the position of AltadenaWILD that even if development is limited to the nursery footprint, the proposed sports complex will irrevocably change the character of the remaining 65 acres and decrease its value for conservation and enjoyment. Hundreds of additional visitors, coupled with high-intensity lighting and sound systems will negatively impact native wildlife and their migration corridors.
If the proposed Polytechnic School sports complex on Chaney Trail is approved by Los Angeles County, these developments will increase the risks to public safety and dramatically change the character of a semi-rural area adjacent to the Angeles National Forest/San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
The entire development site is part of a State-designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ). Numerous wildfires have occurred recently in the surrounding areas, including the devastating 2009 Station fire. The current nursery employs only a handful of people, and the number of on-site customers is typically in single digits. Poly Fields will add hundreds of staff/students/spectators on a typical day – and many more for athletic and special events. (Watch video)
Polytechnic staff, students, parents and spectators will generally be coming from an urbanized home and school environment, where the imminent threat of brushfires and wildfires is minimal. In contrast, neighbors in the Altadena foothills -- and visiting recreationists -- live with fire threats year-round and are accustomed to practicing safe outdoor behaviors. A large infusion of students and spectators in a VHFHSZ will likely increase the prevalence of unsafe practices, including fireworks, smoking and high-speed vehicles on a narrow and hilly access road.
Poly Fields will add potentially hundreds of vehicles daily to a narrow and hilly road incapable of supporting the increased traffic. The impacts will extend to the connecting east-west Loma Alta Drive, to major north-south streets in Altadena (including Lincoln, Fair Oaks, Lake and Marengo Avenues) and to connecting east-west streets (including Altadena Drive). In northern Altadena, these roads are two-lanes only, with many stop signs. Traffic back-ups are likely at peak periods, as Poly staff, students, parents and visitors travel to and from the athletics campus.
The only public road to the proposed development site is Chaney Trail, a hilly and winding ‘dead-end’ road that extends from Loma Alta Drive to Millard Campground and National Forest trails. Chaney Trail -- already a dangerous road for hikers, cyclists and equestrians – is only seventeen feet wide at the junction with Loma Alta Drive, with steep embankments forming the road shoulders at this juncture. Moreover, there are blind spots between Loma Alta Drive and the likely entrance to the Poly sports complex. A significant influx of Poly staff, students and athletic event attendees (including those from visiting schools) will dramatically increase the risks of accidents along Chaney Trail and Loma Alta Drive. It is inevitable that serious injuries and fatalities will eventually occur.
Poly Fields will dramatically impact the native wildlife and associated migration corridors – even if the school restricts new buildings and facilities to the current 13-acre nursery footprint. There can be no doubt that the remaining 65 acres of the affected properties will be impacted by the creation of lighted and sound-amplified athletic facilities in the northern Altadena foothills. Owls, hawks, quail, bobcats, deer, gray foxes and black bears are among the wildlife that will be disrupted in these chaparral wildlands.
Poly Fields will add significant noise and light pollution to the surrounding neighborhoods, foothills and the Angeles National Forest/San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The noise pollution will be extensive during the construction phase of the development, and will routinely exist after completion of the facilities, especially for outdoor athletic events such as football, soccer and baseball games. Night illumination will dramatically increase light pollution well beyond any levels associated with the current nursery. The enhanced lighting will occur adjacent to a County-designated Rural Outdoor Lighting District intended to conserve and appreciate dark skies. Since the proposed stadium sites are at higher elevations than neighborhoods to the south, the light and noise from sports events will likely propagate to Altadena Drive – and beyond.
Property in northern Altadena sought by Polytechnic School. Green line denotes border with San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Photo courtesy of L.A. County GIS-NET Public; annotation by AltadenaWILD.
Development site is in a State-designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone
The property borders the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
80% of the property is within the Altadena Foothills and Arroyos Significant Ecological Area
70% of the property falls within County-designated Hillside Management Areas
The property contains five County-designated Significant Ridgelines
The property contains seasonal streams that drain into Arroyo Seco
The property is home to flora and fauna rich in biodiversity
The property is part of vital wildlife migration corridors
(VHFHSZ)
In 2007, the State of California issued maps defining High/Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (updated in late 2022). The parcels sought by Polytechnic School in the Altadena foothills are entirely located in a VERY HIGH FIRE HAZARD SEVERITY ZONE.
Ordinances governing the Altadena Community Standards District (CSD) are integrated as Section 22.306 of the Los Angeles County Code. The Altadena CSD “is established to ensure that new and expanded structures are compatible in size and scale with the characteristics of surrounding residential neighborhoods, protecting the light, air, and privacy of existing single-family residences from negative impacts while providing certain flexibility within residential areas.”
Polytechnic School’s plans to develop a Chaney Trail sports complex featuring: (1) a football/soccer/athletics stadium, (2) a baseball stadium, (3) eight tennis courts, and associated storage and maintenance buildings, and lighting for night events with amplified sound systems. This development is incompatible with the semi-rural characteristics of surrounding neighborhoods and will produce many negative impacts in the surrounding foothills. Poly Fields will increase wildfire and public safety risks, introduce significant impacts on wildlife and their migration corridors, and increase noise and light pollution. The plans are clearly incommensurate with the intent and the ordinances relevant to the Altadena CSD.