Environment
L.A. River Plan Slowly Moving Forward
(archrecord.construction.com - 04/11/2006)
By Allison
Milionis
The not-so-mighty Los Angeles River
meanders 51 miles through the middle of the L.A. basin. It
has been largely ignored since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
channeled it in the 1930s, but is finally being recognized
as an important natural and economic resource.
Last June, a team was chosen by the
L.A. City Council to create a master plan focused on a 32-mile
stretch of the waterway that runs between the San Fernando
Valley community of Canoga Park and the East L.A. community
of Boyle Heights. [RECORD, June, 2005, p. 30]. The technical
and engineering consultants are Tetra Tech, the urban design
firms Civitas, Wenk Associates and HNTB Architecture, and
the landscape architects are Mia Lehrer + Associates. Several
community outreach organizations, including The Robert Group,
Transportation and Land Use Collaborative of Southern California,
and consultant Adan Ortega, Jr. are helping engage the public,
and Urban Partners LLC and Asset Strategies are providing
implementation services for the team.
The designers say the $3 million master
plan, scheduled to be complete by next January, has several
goals. One is developing an interconnected park system, including
sports fields, parks, trails, greening along the banks, and
enhanced areas for wildlife to thrive. Another goal is to
reduce the volume and improve the quality of storm water entering
the channel through natural filtration and retention systems.
Finally, the plan aims to stimulate private and public reinvestment
in the communities adjacent to the river. By the end of the
planning process, the consulting team will hand the city a
20-year blueprint for the river’s management and development.
The team, along with the city’s
Department of Public Works, has been inviting residents, activists,
and others to public workshops to discuss the development
and help hone design ideas. Seven have been held since October.
“This master plan process really helps us to see what
people see now, what they want to see, and what they don’t
want to see,” says city councilmember Ed P. Reyes, who
is chair of the council’s L.A. River Ad Hoc Committee.
Based on input from the community, the team has identified
five quarter-mile “nodes,” which will receive more
focused efforts. The next community meetings are scheduled
for June 2006, when the planning team will present its node
concepts.
Support from local officials and residents
for the team’s work has been positive. But, once completed,
the fate of their master plan will be determined by the city,
which will need to secure funding from state and federal sources
as well as private investors.
“We hope that the city will be
bold and jump-start this process with public investment,”
says Mark Johnson, an urban planner with Civitas. Deborah
Weintraub, AIA, the chief architect and deputy city engineer
on the project, notes that besides design ideas, the master
plan must also develop a framework for governance, zoning,
and financing mechanisms for river development.
The designers have high hopes, but are
aware of huge challenges. Weintraub points out that existing
infrastructure near the river, like highways and rail lines,
may have to be moved. Mia Lehrer of Mia Lehrer + Associates
points to the ways a revitalized river might act as a symbolic
conduit, connecting L.A.’s diverse communities with shared
spaces and a series of foot and bike paths. “This is
a chance to bring the city together,” she says. “It’s
also an alternative way to commute. Can you imagine people
being able to ride to work along the river?”
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