Sections of the historic stone walls at One Arroyo Overlook are collapsing into the canyon below, the memorial fountain hasn't run in years, and there's no safe path for pedestrians to reach the Lower Arroyo trails. Now the City of Pasadena, the One Arroyo Foundation and landscape architecture firm RJM Design Group are asking residents what they want the 91-year-old site to become.

The partners held their first community listening session Saturday, Aug. 1, at Brookside Golf Club. A second session is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Rose Room at Brookside Golf Club, 1133 Rosemont Ave. At that meeting, RJM will present initial conceptual designs drawn from the online survey and the first workshop. Residents can register through Eventbrite.

The overlook and the adjoining Emma Dickinson Bird Sanctuary sit on a promontory above the Lower Arroyo Seco, a 150-acre natural park listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The sanctuary was built in 1935 after Pasadena resident Emma Dickinson left $45,000 to the city. Because of her love of birds, friends suggested the city honor her gift with a sanctuary. Park Superintendent Gilbert Skutt chose the site near the end of California Street, according to the National Register nomination.

The sanctuary's centerpiece is a memorial fountain adorned with tile by Ernest A. Batchelder, the Arts and Crafts-era tilemaker who lived and worked in the Lower Arroyo. The fountain is non-operational. The area is overgrown, and pedestrians leaving the overlook must share a narrow stretch of roadway with vehicles because no designated path connects the site to the trail system, according to the RJM project page.

A 2009 rehabilitation effort never happened.

The long-term vision includes restoring the fountain and its Batchelder tile, stabilizing the failing retaining walls, improving accessibility, building a new trail from the bird sanctuary down to the casting pond, and expanding native habitat for birds and pollinators. The effort will produce a park site master plan to guide construction and fundraising.

One Arroyo Foundation Executive Director Daniel Rossman called the project "a once-in-a-generation chance to restore the landmark" in a July 27 PasadenaNow article announcing the effort.

The foundation, not the city, is funding this planning and design phase with donor support. The nonprofit grew out of a community advisory group that traveled to New York in 2016 to meet with the Central Park Conservancy; the City Council unanimously adopted the group's final report in 2018, and the foundation secured its 501(c)(3) status in 2019, according to the foundation's history page. It has since received a $1 million grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and a $25,000 grant from the Pasadena Community Foundation for its trail work.

RJM Design Group, based in San Juan Capistrano, previously designed the recently completed One Arroyo Trail Critical Linkages Project, which reconnected deteriorated paths across the Arroyo Seco. Principal Project Manager Zachary Mueting and Landscape Architect Tyler Page are leading the overlook effort.

Residents who cannot attend the Aug. 26 session can submit feedback through the online community survey. The Aug. 26 workshop is the last scheduled opportunity to shape the conceptual designs before they are finalized.