Despite assurances that the project is dead, South Pasadena last week hired an outside attorney to help the city redouble its efforts to fight a tunnel extension of the 710 Freeway from Alhambra to Pasadena, city and state sources said.

Douglas Carstens, an expert in California environmental law and part of the Los Angeles-based Chatten-Brown & Carstens law firm, was hired by South Pasadena to help with the city’s latest effort to respond to Caltrans about how a 6.3-mile, north-south tunnel connecting the 10 Freeway with the 134/210 freeways in west Pasadena would adversely affect historical buildings, city spokesperson Susan Groveman said in an email.

A six-page letter to Caltrans dated March 1 obtained by this news organization points out that four Pasadena properties along the route would be damaged by the drilling:

The Markham Place Historic District, roughly bounded by California Street, Pasadena Avenue, Bellefontaine Street and Orange Grove Boulevard

Caroline Walkley House, 696 S. Pasadena Ave.

Driscoll House, 679 S. Pasadena Ave.

Sequoyah School, 535 S. Pasadena Ave.

“In light of the adverse effects that cannot be fully mitigated, the Freeway Tunnel alternative cannot be approved,” the letter said. It was signed by South Pasadena City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe, who hired Carstens to help her draft the letter. Groveman said the city manager has the authority to hire someone in a “limited contract” to assist her staff.

Caltrans has not yet signed off on the environmental analysis of the north-710 connector. Until it does, the project is not officially decided since Caltrans is the lead agency. The project was dealt a major blow May 25 when the board of the funding agency, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, voted unanimously not to build the tunnel, saying the price tag, between $3 billion and $5 billion, was prohibitive.

Instead, the board voted for a preferred local alternative that would improve affected roadways across city lines by adding capacity, new bus lines, bike lanes and synchronized signals in the high-traffic areas of Fremont and Garfield avenues and on Fair Oaks Avenue, as well as Pasadena Avenue and St. John Avenue in Pasadena.

Several members from the No on 710 group were not satisfied and asked the city to hire an attorney to keep the pressure on Caltrans to kill the tunnel project. The group also wanted Carstens to get Caltrans to remove the 710 connector from the state highway code, but the letter does not address that issue. The closure of the freeway gap has been on the state map since 1959.

The letter says Caltrans has changed its stand, saying tunneling will have an adverse effect on certain historic properties because the agency does not have a proper plan in case a tunnel boring machine breaks down or a tunnel fire ignites. Other possible adverse effects listed were: sinkholes created by tunneling; earthquakes triggered by tunneling activity on the Eagle Rock and San Rafael faults; vibrations that could shake historical buildings and ground settling.

In response, Caltrans is preparing to augment a portion of the environmental reports relating to historical resources and will begin recirculating that portion in April. The public and various agencies will have 45 days to comment, State Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge said Tuesday. This will push back the finalization of a project under debate for nearly 60 years from spring to summer, he said.

While Portantino said the additional study was appropriate, he estimates a decision from Caltrans and the California State Transportation Agency Secretary won’t come until July now, he said. Also, that will come not from Brian P. Kelly, who resigned recently to head up the California High-Speed Rail Authority, but from Brian C. Annis, acting secretary.

On the other hand, the delays and a new secretary don’t change anything because the project is not funded, he said.

“I am still excited the tunnel is no longer a viable threat to our region,” he said.