National Recreation Area Legislative Update

Monrovia doesn’t want to be within the NRA boundaries – Courtesy City of Monrovia

During the past few months, City of Monrovia staff has been corresponding primarily with representatives from Congress Member Napolitano’s office regarding the National Recreation Area (NRA) legislation, which is contained in House Resolution (HR) 3820 – San Gabriel Mountains, Foothills and River Protection Act (Bill). In those conversations, they have been able to illustrate for Congress Member Napolitano’s office how the proposed measure would include a huge swath of Monrovia by plotting Monrovia’s city boundaries over the proposed NRA area. This was accomplished by utilizing Monrovia’s internal GIS capabilities, and a copy of the map that the City developed can be accessed at http://monrovia.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=1d8dd88a677c4b55940a2eef015d5f05.

The map includes areas shaded in green, red, and blue. Those color designations refer to the following items: § The area shaded in green outlines the boundaries of the existing San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. § The areas shaded in red outlines the proposed expansion area for the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument contemplated in the proposed NRA Bill. § The area shaded in blue outlines the proposed San Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area proposed in the NRA Bill.

As Monrovia has engaged in these discussions, staff has informed Congress Member Napolitano’s Office that the City Council has taken a formal position requesting that Monrovia be removed from the boundaries of the NRA Bill. In these discussions with federal legislative representatives, staff was told that if the NRA Bill was advanced through the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands to either a committee hearing or committee mark-up, Congress Member Napolitano would consider requesting that Monrovia be removed from the boundaries of the NRA Bill. However, Congress Member Napolitano’s staff also informed the City that it was very unlikely that the NRA Bill would be advanced to a committee hearing or committee mark-up process, as there was very little support for the measure in the House of Representatives.

This past week, Congress Member Napolitano’s staff reached out to the City to let them know that the NRA Bill is still sitting in committee and that there does not seem to be any interest by the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands – or by the House of Representatives for that matter – to consider the NRA Bill in 2016. Staff will continue to monitor the situation and will most certainly let everyone know if the situation changes moving forward.

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