It’s within a hidden, natural section of the San Gabriel River with water year-round, visited by 40 bird species, and contains a paved bikeway stretching 35 miles to the sea.
Yet the 26-acre Lario Park, plus the adjoining north river acreage, has seen environmental damage from trash, graffiti, homeless encampments, plus crime and extended park closures over the years. The ultimate insult occurred in early 2025, when the park was closed and taken over by the U.S. EPA for sorting of hazardous waste transported from burned-out homes in the nearby Eaton fire.
This month, the three cities that share jurisdiction — Azusa, Duarte and Irwindale — announced they want to do something that will fix the park now, and protect it in the future, while preventing these disruptions from happening again.
They are pursuing a unique answer: a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) that will improve the park through a three-city management agreement, with better public safety measures and a revitalization effort that will create the next regional nature park in L.A. County.
“It is another avenue of recreation for people in the area,” began Duarte City Councilmember Margaret Finlay. “It will be more of a living classroom, which will benefit families that want to go there, as well as school groups to learn about the history, geology and vegetation.”
She envisions something like the Irvine Ranch Water District’s San Joaquin Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary, a 300-acre wetlands preserve with trails surrounded by a suburban area. “That’s what I would like to see there,” she said.
While the three cities have a grand vision, two developments this month have boosted their nascent efforts.
First, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors gave it their blessing. The county’s Parks and Recreation Department used to manage the park via a lease of the land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). But on Tuesday, June 16, the board passed a motion endorsing the cities’ JPA taking over the park and saying the county would no longer operate the park or renew its lease.
Second, the release by the county — what the cities said was long delayed — meant a $2 million grant from state Sen. Susan Rubio, D-West Covina, who represents the three cities plus a chunk of the Angeles National Forest, can be awarded to the future JPA.
“We are pleased with the County Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) decision to support a direct lease between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the proposed Joint Powers Authority (JPA). The BOS’ decision is a crucial first step toward developing thoughtful, long-term improvements to Lario Park,” said Duarte City Manager Brian Villalobos in a written statement.
“We are confident that the proposed JPA, in conjunction with state Sen. Susan Rubio, will transform Lario Park into a public space that benefits the region,” Villalobos added.
Giovanni Ruiz, Sen. Rubio’s press secretary, said in an emailed response that the $2 million grant is a start, that additional funds could be realized “once the JPA is formalized and plans completed.”
“The funding goal is to support planning efforts, the park, responsible maintenance, and public safety investments that benefit local communities,” said Rubio in an emailed statement. “The formation of a Joint Powers Authority by the cities of Azusa, Duarte, and Irwindale represents an important step toward community-driven decision-making and local stewardship.”
Part of the problems the park has experienced come from the myriad of jurisdictions.
It is owned by the USACE. And L.A. County managed the park portion, but critics say it has kept it closed for two years and too long, and that when it was open to the public, it was only once or twice a week.
The cities’ jurisdictions are complicated: Duarte has the west river bank across from its own Encanto Park; Azusa has the east bank containing the picnic tables, parking lot and bathrooms area; Irwindale has the side south of Huntington Drive, where the river runs into L.A. County spreading basins to supply wells.
Former Duarte mayor and City Councilmember Liz Reilly, now president of the Duarte Historical Society who works at the museum across from the river, agrees that a local governance model will more efficiently address the natural area and park’s needs.
“Right now, you have someone in Washington D.C. who thinks they will be able to control it, but they are not here. They can’t. They don’t know what the community wants,” she said on Wednesday, June 17. “So, yes, I think having local control is the way to go.”
Azusa Councilmember Robert Gonzales has helped run the North San Gabriel River Working Group with Irwindale and Duarte since 2021. He said that group was the impetus for the JPA. The group worked with Azusa PD to clear homeless encampments, offering hotel vouchers and services to those willing to leave.
Gonzales said there were 328 encampments in 2020 and that number has dropped to 10. He also said the area had many small fires in the past, but recently the number of fires has decreased. Both caused environmental damage and disrupted wildlife. He said in the past six years, there have been murders and drug crimes. Bike riders have been assaulted, he said.
“Why has the county — for one — not paid attention to that particular park?” he asked. “It has been closed for a number of years, even before the toxic waste repository was there from the Eaton fire.”
Richard Allen, a Monrovia resident, who was walking across the Puente Largo Bridge that connects the river banks on Wednesday afternoon, has noticed the park deteriorating after the county closed it about two years ago.
The bathrooms are padlocked and covered in graffiti. The parking lot is choked with weeds and needs repaving and re-striping. Trash piles can be seen on the edge of the bike path. A homeless tent poked out of the bushes near the park’s entrance, which has locked metal gates preventing vehicles from entering.
Adding to the abandoned, not just closed, look is the removal of all signs. Last year, the county put up a brand new monument sign and that is now gone. Other parallel wooden posts inside the park remain, but the signage is absent.
“Yeah, the bathrooms are locked but recently I saw one had been forced open,” said Allen, who walks the route every day. “The oak trees are dying because no one waters them anymore. So yeah, let the three cities take it over.”
The biggest catalyst for a cities takeover was the toxic waste operation that existed at the park for several months last year. Cities said they were not notified and both city officials and residents were concerned about dust and leakage of toxins into the river, a major source of drinking water.
“That was basically a shot fired over the bow. It was telling us they can put anything they want there,” said Finlay.
In a letter dated June 1 signed by city managers from the three cities addressed to First District Supervisor Hilda Solis, they wrote the county removed itself from the lease with the USACE on Jan. 20, 2025, so the EPA could begin the toxic waste sorting operation.
Gonzales said his city, along with Duarte, Irwindale and Baldwin Park, at the time were not notified by the county of their removal from the lease, nor of the toxic waste operation moving in. “That caused an uprising last year and folks were getting upset,” he said.
Seeing an option to gain control of nearby parkland and a natural landscape, the cities got serious about taking over the park land.
The city managers’ letter said they’ve been talking to the USACE for about a year regarding their JPA and a 100-year-lease to improve and manage the park.
The city managers’ letter also said the USACE has been communicating with Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation over a recent 12-month period, asking for a management release from the county, so the cities’ JPA could move ahead.
The USACE did not comment on the JPA or a pending lease before the deadline for this story.
Solis said she hadn’t heard of the cities’ effort until earlier this month. She said the cities had the wrong impression that the county was blocking their JPA. And she wrote a motion that was approved by the board to support the JPA, not exercise L.A. County parks’ option. It also contained a caveat that the parkland only be used as a park in perpetuity, and that it would be open to all county residents with no special dispensation for residents of the three cities.
Part of the reason for taking over the land is so that the county, nor any arm of the federal government, cannot move in an operation or do anything that disrupts the park or damages the environment. “I would love to have this area as open space. So this (toxic waste site) couldn’t happen again to our community,” Gonzales said.
Solis called the triumvirate banding together to manage a regional park “a bold step.” And Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Duarte, said: “I will continue to be a champion of local control.”
Finlay said the county action signaled a vote of confidence. “I think it shows they have trust and faith in our cities to manage this Lario Park area,” she said.
However, this kind of local collaboration among neighboring cities to take over a park is unique, said Marcel Rodarte, director of the California Contract Cities Association. His knowledge of municipalities is paired with his participation on the county’s Measure G Governance Reform Task Force, which looks at how the county board will expand from five members to nine.
He’s seeing more cities working on issues that once were performed by the county. Many cities feel county resources for homeless services, housing and healthcare do not spill over into their communities, he said.
For example, Lakewood, Bellflower and Paramount have formed the Station Cities Public Safety Joint Powers Authority (JPA), which supplements law enforcement provided by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
“While the park by the three cities is a new concept, the collaboration part of it isn’t new,” Rodarte said. “The residents are suffering through the inefficiency of the county government. This idea brings control back home,” he said.
Duarte’s City Council is scheduled to vote on establishing the JPA on July 14, said Finlay. Azusa’s City Council is scheduled to vote on July 20, said Gonzales.
“It’s a massive step,” Gonzales said. “We have worked hard to make sure we are keeping an eye on that riverbed. This is a watershed and it should be protected.”