Two years after detailed planning began, Pasadena Polytechnic School’s proposed “PolyFields” sports complex at Altadena’s Chaney Trail is cancelled and the project’s land use plan was withdrawn.
The reason? Development costs the school says “that were much higher than anticipated, and far beyond what we believe to be reasonable.”
Announced by Poly’s Board Chair Alec Hudnut and Head of School John Bracker on the school’s Web site this morning, the school’s governing board “recognized it was simply not responsible or prudent to continue pursuing a plan that would require such a high level of financial investment.”
Specifically, Hudnut and Bracker identified the complexity of the Nuccio’s Nursery site for unanticipated “infrastructure, engineering, and grading requirements.”
In addition, Local News Pasadena learned that the California Native American Heritage Commission identified the project location in 2022 as a sacred site and informed Polytechnic School’s developer, Envicom Corporation. That detail was not included in paperwork filed with Los Angeles County for environmental impact review purposes.
The school says it will now focus on sports field options closer to Poly’s campus, stating “while the Altadena site did not materialize as a viable option, our commitment to securing quality athletic fields continues to be an important priority for the Board of Trustees and a vital component of Poly’s strategic vision.”
Local News Pasadena published our significant environmental impact concerns about the project in August, and several thousand Altadena and Pasadena residents signed a petition in opposition to the development plan. In addition, non-violent but highly visible protests outside the school’s Pasadena campus indicated the community’s depth of concern about the project’s impact on wildlife and the Chaney Trail neighborhood.
In combination, that clearly wasn’t a good look for the affluent private K-12 school, where annual tuition starts at $34,700.
With the PolyFields project now withdrawn from consideration, it is unclear if the Nuccio family will entertain other development options for the Altadena property.
The family previously claimed it had received strong interest from housing developers to subdivide the nursery location, which adjoins the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
