BILL NUMBER: AB 735	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 23, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gomez

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to add Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) to
Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to the Los Angeles
River.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 735, as amended, Gomez.  Los Angeles River
Rehabilitation Project.  Greenway Initiative. 
   Existing law  , the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act,
establishes the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and
authorizes the district to control and conserve the flood, storm, and
other wastewater of the district. Under existing law, the act
includes in the objects and purposes of the district to provide for
public use of navigable waterways under the district's control that
are suitable for recreational and educational purposes, when these
purposes are not inconsistent with the use thereof by the district
for flood control and water conservation. Existing law also 
establishes various plans and programs intended to preserve,
protect, and rehabilitate lands adjacent to rivers in the state.

   This bill would, until July 1, 2020, require the Secretary of the
Natural Resources Agency to establish a Los Angeles River
Rehabilitation Project policy committee, which would include members
of appropriate public agencies, nonprofits, stakeholders, developers,
cities, and environmental organizations to assist in the development
and rehabilitation of the Los Angeles River. The bill would require
that the secretary collaborate with and establish a cooperative
working relationship with public agencies that are affected by the
project and consider all existing Los Angeles River rehabilitation
plans in effect in implementing actions pursuant to the provisions of
the bill. The bill would require that the Natural Resources Agency
use existing state resources and available federal funds to implement
the provisions of the bill and would authorize the agency to apply
for and accept grants, donations, and other financial support from
public or private sources for purposes of those provisions. 

   This bill would establish the statewide Greenway Initiative, which
is intended to promote the development of greenways along rivers in
the state, including the development of a greenway along the Los
Angeles River. The bill would define the term "greenway" for purposes
of the bill, and would authorize a city, county, city and county, or
other local government entity to designate lands along a river in
its jurisdiction, upon approval of its legislative body by ordinance
or resolution, or by incorporating such a designation into an adopted
general plan element or adopted river master plan and to apply for
public or private funding available for the development of a greenway
in its jurisdiction, to the extent any funds secured for that
purpose are used in a manner consistent with state laws. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of
the following: 
   (1) A Los Angeles River Rehabilitation Project would foster job
creation by investing in parks and multiuse public trails. 

   (2) The Los Angeles River Rehabilitation Project would improve the
conditions of daily life along the river in a safe environment that
promotes walking, jogging, biking, recreation, and living along the
Los Angeles River.  
   (3) The Los Angeles River Rehabilitation Project would directly
improve the quality of life in Los Angeles by providing important
recreational, open-space, wildlife, flood-management, water-quality,
and urban waterfront revitalization benefits to communities.
 
   (4) The Los Angeles River Rehabilitation Project would foster
livable communities through placemaking that provides public
amenities, links communities, reduces residential segregation, and
facilitates healthy behaviors.  
   (5) The Los Angeles River Rehabilitation Project would support
linkages to community and economic development similar to other
transit oriented developments.  
   (1) Open-space land is necessary not only for the maintenance of
the economy of the state, but for, among other purposes, the
enjoyment of scenic beauty, for recreation, and for the use and
preservation of natural resources. Moreover, the growing population
of the state makes it important that existing open-space resources be
preserved and well maintained, and that access to those resources be
ensured for the health benefits and well-being of the state's
population. The preservation of open-space land is especially
critical in urban areas where the amount of usable open-space land is
limited.  
   (2) Open-space land provides relief from the effects of urban
congestion and opportunities for relaxation, exercise, community
interaction, and the observation and appreciation of wildlife, which
helps to combat both physical and psychological stress by offering
outdoor, open-space land for recreation and physical activity in
urban areas. Trees located on open-space land also provide shade and
help reduce ambient temperatures and restore oxygen to the
atmosphere.  
   (3) Greenways are public infrastructure located along natural
landscape features such as urban watercourses, which, because of
their linear structure, help to physically and psychologically
connect various neighborhoods with one another while providing a
means of habitat connectivity. 
   (4) Greenways can directly improve the quality of life in
communities by providing important recreational, open-space land,
wildlife, flood management, water quality, air quality,
transportation, emergency response, and urban waterfront
revitalization benefits to those communities.  
   (5) Greenways can foster livable communities by utilizing public
lands for multiple, complementary purposes, such as placemaking,
connecting diverse communities, reducing dependence on automobiles,
expanding nonmotorized transportation networks with safer routes to
jobs, homes, and schools, encouraging more transit-oriented
development, and facilitating healthier behaviors by providing
opportunities for exercise and the maintenance of a healthy, active
lifestyle.  
   (6) Greenways can be complemented and enhanced by installing
public amenities and public-serving retail and services that provide
additional access to historically underserved urban communities.
Greenways also attract residents and visitors, and increase public
safety by fostering improved civic vigilance. Other public-private
partnerships in greenways in cities throughout the world have
demonstrated the effectiveness and benefits of sustainable and
successful public-private partnerships.  
   (7) Greenways encourage healthier residential communities by
facilitating development that allows people to live closer to job
centers and use public transportation alternatives.  
   (8) Greenways reduce the amount of parking necessary for small
businesses because of reduced automobile traffic, encourage the
development of affordable housing in urban areas, and promote walking
and cycling and increased community interaction.  
   (9) Greenways encourage economic investment and community
revitalization by connecting people in new ways.  
   (b) The Legislature finds and declares the following with regard
to the development of a greenway along the Los Angeles River: 

   (1) The Los Angeles River is a site that is particularly suited
for the development of a greenway. A Los Angeles River greenway that
focuses on public-private partnerships aimed at establishing a
continuous pedestrian bikeway along the Los Angeles River and its key
tributaries would foster job creation, economic development, and
community revitalization.  
   (2) A Los Angeles River greenway that establishes a continuous
pedestrian bikeway along the Los Angeles River and its key
tributaries would encourage community revitalization by investing in
an efficient cycling and walking recreational transit route following
the 51-mile Los Angeles River corridor. The greenway would also
connect existing communities along the Los Angeles River to a network
of parks and multiuse public trails.  
   (3) A Los Angeles River greenway would build upon a long history
of support for a multiuse greenway network along the most significant
river in the nation's second largest city. Since the 1980s,
residents of the Los Angeles area have been advocating for the
development of a trail network along the Los Angeles River. The
County of Los Angeles' Los Angeles River Master Plan in 1996, the
City of Los Angeles' Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan in
2007, the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Plan in 2010, the County of Los
Angeles Bicycle Plan in 2012, and President Obama's prioritization
of the Los Angeles River trail system in the President's America's
Great Outdoors Initiative in 2012 all promote the development of a
river trail system along the Los Angeles River.  
   (4) A Los Angeles River greenway would build upon a long history
of investment by the state in the development of parks and trails
along the Los Angeles River, including Rio de Los Angeles State Park
and Los Angeles State Historic Park. Moreover, a Los Angeles River
greenway would complement the work of key state entities, including
the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and various other state rivers
and mountains conservancies.  
   (5) Because of its ability to leverage private investments to
match commitments of public funds, the development of a Los Angeles
River greenway by the City of Los Angeles would allow the state to
concentrate and streamline investments it has already made in
communities adjacent to the Los Angeles River, and would provide a
funding model for types of investments funding greenways that may be
replicated in other priority urban waterways in the future. 

   (6) Given the current fiscal constraints facing public agencies,
it is time for the state to acknowledge and take advantage of the
ability of private sector investments to sustain public
infrastructure at all levels. Efforts to promote investment in the
Los Angeles River trail system should be encouraged to prevent
partial, disjointed, and inefficient development of the trail system.
 
   (7) A Los Angeles River greenway would provide a social and
natural resource amenity that would be complete and accessible to the
public in the next seven years, and would be a resource that will be
able to be utilized and enjoyed by children in the Los Angeles area
during their childhood years.  
   (8) A Los Angeles River greenway would improve the conditions of
daily life in Los Angeles' urban communities and would increase the
value of the state's investments while providing critically needed,
tangible urban waterway revitalization in the Los Angeles area. 

   (9) A greenway should be established in the area encompassing the
Los Angeles River from its headwaters in the Community of Canoga Park
to a point of discharge into the Pacific Ocean at San Pedro Bay in
the City of Long Beach, with a width of one-quarter to one mile on
both banks and at least one mile upstream along both banks of its
tributaries, as feasible. Within the City of Los Angeles, the
greenway could be coterminous with the area included in the Los
Angeles River Improvement Overlay district.  
   (10) The County of Los Angeles' Los Angeles River Master Plan and
the City of Los Angeles' Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan
call for the development of a greenway along the Los Angeles River.
 
   (b) 
    (c)  It is therefore the intent of the Legislature in
enacting Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) of Division 5 of
the Public Resources Code to  support rehabilitation and
development along the Los Angeles River.   promote the
development of greenways along rivers in the state through public and
private partnership, including the development of a greenway along
the Los Angeles River. 
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) is added to
Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 10.5.   THE LOS ANGELES RIVER
REHABILITATIONPROJECT   GREENWAY INITIATIVE 




   5845.  (a) For purposes of this chapter, "agency" means the
Natural Resources Agency.
   (b) For purposes of this chapter, "secretary" means the Secretary
of the Natural Resources Agency.  
   5845.1.  (a) The secretary shall establish a Los Angeles River
Rehabilitation Project policy committee, which shall include
representatives from appropriate agencies, nonprofits, stakeholders,
developers, cities, and environmental organization, to assist in the
development and rehabilitation of the Los Angeles River.
   (b) The secretary shall collaborate with and establish a
cooperative working relationship with public agencies that are
affected by the project, and shall consider all existing Los Angeles
River rehabilitation plans in effect pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 5753 in implementing actions pursuant to this chapter.
 
   5845.2.  The agency shall use existing state resources and
available federal funds to implement this chapter. If state or
federal funds are not available or sufficient, the office may apply
for and accept grants and receive donations and other financial
support from public or private sources for purposes of these
sections.  
   5845.3.  This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1, 2020.
 
   5845.  For purposes of this chapter, "greenway" means a pedestrian
and bicycle, nonmotorized vehicle transportation, and recreational
travel corridor that meets the following requirements:
   (a) Is a travel corridor that is separated and protected from
shared roadways that parallels an urban waterway and incorporates
both ease of access to adjacent communities and an array of amenities
and services for the users of the corridor and nearby communities.
   (b) Is publicly accessible and located on a combination of public
and private lands, if public access to those lands is provided by
lands owned in fee simple, leases, or easements.
   (c) Reflects design standards with appropriate widths, clearances,
and setbacks from obstructions, and centerlines protecting
directional travel, where appropriate.
   (d) Incorporates appropriate landscaping, lighting, public
amenities, and art.  
   5845.1.  (a) A city, county, city and county, or other local
government entity may designate lands along a river in its
jurisdiction as a greenway, upon approval of its legislative body by
ordinance or resolution, or by incorporating such a designation into
an adopted general plan element or an adopted river master plan.
   (b) A city, county, city and county, or other local government
entity may adopt ordinances that regulate public health and safety or
traffic within a designated greenway in its jurisdiction.  

   5845.2.  A city, county, city and county, or other local
government entity may apply for public or private funding available
for the development of a greenway in its jurisdiction, to the extent
any funds secured for that purpose are used in a manner consistent
with applicable state laws.