COMPLIMENTARY COPY
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Thursday, January 18 - January 24, 2018
Since Since1996 1996
VOLUME 22, NO. 3
MONROVIA’S HISTORIC SANTA FE DEPOT RESTORATION NEAR FINISHING POINT Originally Slated for Completion Last Year Staff Writer editorial@beaconmedianews.com
D
uring the past several months, city staff has been working with a variety of construction and development partners to coordinate the restoration of Monrovia’s Historic Santa Fe Depot. The work at the Historic Santa Fe Depot has taken longer to complete than they originally anticipated – they initially thought the work would be done by the end of 2017, however, due primarily to historic restoration processes and utility relocation / coordination issues, that hasn’t happened and they are behind schedule a bit. The good news, though, is that the project is progressing on-budget, and the current construction at the Historic Santa Fe Depot involves painstakingly detailed work to restore one of Monrovia's most historically significant buildings. As with most historic restoration projects, there were some unexpected challenges which unfor-
Althoug the project has taken longer than expected it is progressing and on-budget - Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
SEE DEPOT PAGE 11
THE MONROVIA OLD TOWN REPORT Pam FITZPATRICK |
Old Town Monrovia has some fairly strict rules of doing business, both on the permitted use side as well as the allowable signage side. As most of us know, it’s far easier to get away with some ‘oops’ on the signage side than it is on the usage side. Take for instance, A-frame signs
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Restoring the Vanishing Skill of Quilting at Cat’s Quilting Corner
pam@oldtownreport.com
are not allowed in Old Town, but they are actually everywhere. That’s not to say the offending business is ignoring the code without eventual consequence, it’s just that the consequence is not businessthreatening. But ignoring zoning regulations for the HCD (Historical Commercial
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District) can be costly. If you lease a space without first checking on the zoning, better hope your landlord will be sympathetic and let you out of your lease if your use is not permitted, because the City won’t let you go on this one. SEE OLD TOWN PAGE 11
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Pirates of Penzance’ at the Pasadena Playhouse
Monrovia’s Water Rate Increase Will go Into Effect in March Susan MOTANDER motander@yahoo.com
An obviously reluctant City Council passed the necessary motions to increase the water rates for most Monrovians. Only those whose water is supplied by CalAm water (in the southern
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parts of town) are not affected by this increase, however their rates are already higher than those paid by the rest of the community, and will remain so even after the increase goes into effect. Even with the rate increase, Monrovia’s water rates will still remain among the lowest in the area, moving
SPORTS5 New Arcadia Boys Basketball Has Up and Down Weekend
from 3rd lowest to fifth. The increase will go into effect in March. The city carefully followed the procedure set out by Proposition 218 for raising any property related taxes (water rates being considSEE RATES PAGE 11
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