THE BIKE and pedestrian path along the former Pacific Electric right-of-way between Nelson and Brookhurst streets in Garden Grove won’t be quite as grand as pictured above, but a contract to install 363 trees and an irrigation system was approved Tuesday night by the city council (Flicker).

The new Medal of Honor Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail through Garden Grove got approval for trees, landscaping and irrigation and Mayor Steve Jones gave his vision for the path at Tuesday night’s meeting of the City Council.

On a 6-0 vote – with Councilmember John O’Neill absent – the council approved a contract with Kato Landscape, Inc. worth up to $510,996.60 to plant 363 trees along the length of the land that was once the route of the Pacific Electric right-of-way that ran diagonally through the community from 1905 through the 1970s.

The project is scheduled to start in early September and be completed two months later.

“A lot of people are finding this trail and enjoying it,” Jones said. “It’s a great new public amenity. We need to protect it, keep it clean and not let it be taken over by any bad element. I’d like to see retail kiosks along the way and a ‘dog-friendly’”eatery.

The trail runs from Nelson Street at the edge of downtown northwest to Brookhurst Street, at the edge of the city’s largest commercial area. The possibility of extending the path along the former right-of-way across Brookhurst to Chapman Avenue has been discussed.

Also on Tuesday, the council voted to remove Planning Commissioner Man Jordan Nguyen from his position. Councilmember Kim Nguyen announced that he had been arrested on undisclosed charges and urged the council to take action to take him off the panel.

He had been appointed in 2017 and his term was to expire in December 2020.  Several councilmembers expressed reluctance to remove him on the grounds that he was innocent until proven guilty.

However, Jones said that “this is one more in a series of incidents” involving the man.

The vote to remove him was 4-0-2, with councilmember Phat Bui and George Brietigam abstaining.