At the time, the council was told the outside facing of the structure would include the type of rock work previously decided upon by the then- Foothill Design Commission, a former Town Council subcommittee, set up to create standards for design along the county portion of Foothill Boulevard.
It’s important to members of the council and former subcommittee, as well as to other community members, that the rockwork be “natural La Crescenta field stone,” similar to that of the rock on the historic Saint Luke’s of the Mountains structure and the rockwork planned for the new La Crescenta Library, which is nearing completion.
However, a mix-up in the correct name of those rocks led developers to a more contemporary design of rock facing, which was unacceptable to council members at last Thursday night’s Crescenta Valley Town Council executive committee meeting.
“Natural La Crescenta rock is what was agreed on back in 2002, [when the design commission met with the developers],” said Steve Pierce, Town Council president.
Developers were shown examples in 2002 of the type of river rock to which the council was requesting; however, one former commission member’s use of the similar sounding term “La Crescenta river rock” may have led developers to the newer type of brick work, which does not conform to community standards.
More confusion occurred after the council asked Stuart Byles, a local historian, to go on a “drive around” with Val Clemens, of Rich Development, who has been working on the project for the past year but wasn’t with the development company at the time of the original discussions with the council.
