BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 530
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 530
(Rendon) - As Introduced February 23, 2015
SUBJECT: Lower Los Angeles River Working Group
SUMMARY: Requires the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers
and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) to staff, and the Secretary of
the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to appoint, a
working group that is tasked with developing a revitalization
plan for the lower Los Angeles River (Lower LA River).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes findings including, but not limited to, the history and
importance of the LA River and the need to create a plan for
the Lower LA River that updates the LA County 1996 LA River
Revitalization Master Plan.
2)Adds a chapter to the RMC Act creating the Lower Los Angeles
River Working Group (Working Group) and specifying that the
Working Group shall develop a revitalization plan by March 1,
2017 for the Lower LA River.
3)Requires the CNRA Secretary, in coordination with the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors, to appoint members to the
Working Group including, but not limited to, representatives
AB 530
Page 2
from the RMC, LA County, the Gateway Cities Council of
Governments, the LA Gateway Region Integrated Regional Water
Management Plan Joint Powers Authority, elected officials from
cities that border the Lower LA River, and non-profit
organizations serving the LA region.
4)Allows that revitalization plan development and implementation
may be funded from any public or private source including the
$100 million in funding from the Water Quality, Supply, and
Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1 or Prop.
1).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Designates the LA River as a as a traditional navigable
waterway protected under the federal Clean Water Act.
2)Establishes the RMC in the CNRA, as a state agency with the
following purposes:
a) To acquire and manage public lands within the Lower LA
River and San Gabriel River watersheds, and to provide
open-space, low-impact recreational and educational uses,
water conservation, watershed improvement, wildlife and
habitat restoration and protection, and watershed
improvement within the territory.
b) To preserve the San Gabriel River and the Lower LA River
consistent with existing and adopted river and flood
control projects for the protection of life and property.
c) To acquire open-space lands within the territory of the
AB 530
Page 3
conservancy.
d) To provide for the public's enjoyment and enhancement of
recreational and educational experiences on public lands in
the San Gabriel Watershed and Lower LA River, and the San
Gabriel Mountains in a manner consistent with the
protection of lands and resources in those watersheds.
3)Provides $30 million dollars in Prop. 1 for the RMC and
another $100 million in Prop. 1 for urban rivers and streams
including, but not limited to, the LA River and its
tributaries as defined in the RMC Act and the Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) Act, which covers the upper LA
River.
4)Creates the LA County Flood Control District (LACFCD) and
empowers it to provide for:
a) Control and conservation of the flood, storm and other
waste waters of the district, to conserve those waters for
beneficial and useful purposes;
b) Protection of the harbors, waterways, public highways
and property in the district from flood water or storm
water damage; and,
c) Access to navigable waterways under LACFCD's control,
including the LA River, where such access is suitable for
education and recreational purposes and not inconsistent
with flood control and water conservation uses.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
AB 530
Page 4
COMMENTS: This bill would create a planning process for the
lower LA River, the 19 miles of river that once it leaves
downtown Los Angeles flows through multiple cities until it
reaches the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach Harbor. The LA River is
51 miles long. Currently, the upper 32-mile stretch, which
reaches from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles and
lies within the City of Los Angeles, has its own Los Angeles
River Revitalization Master Plan (City Master Plan) released in
2007. The lower LA River does not have such a plan.
1)Author's statement: The author states that there is not a
revitalization plan specific to the Lower LA River and,
although the 1996 County Master Plan included a few projects
for cities along the Lower LA River. The author states that
there is now a need for a comprehensive revitalization plan
that focuses more attention and resources on the Southeast LA
County cities which include Vernon, Commerce, Maywood, Bell,
Bell Gardens, Cudahy, South Gate, Lynwood, Compton, Paramount,
Carson and Long Beach.
2)Background: In the late 1700s when the Spanish founded the
pueblo that became Los Angeles, the LA River supported diverse
flora and fauna and much of what is now southern and western
Los Angeles was marsh. The Spanish followed the example of
the Native Americans and settled near the river to use its
flow to supply drinking and irrigation water. As Los Angeles
grew and prospered, settlements and farming continued to
encroach upon the river's floodplain, while also depending
upon it for water. As time progressed, booming development
along the river as well as increasing urbanization provided
for larger and larger impacts from river flooding. Between
1850 and 1900, there were 11 major flood events along the
river. The devastating flooding in 1914 led to the passage of
the LAFCD Act the next year (c. 755, Statutes of 1915). More
serious flooding in the 1930s forced the LAFCD to ask for
AB 530
Page 5
federal help. In 1936, Congress directed the US Army Corps of
Engineers (Army Corps) to "channelize" the river to help
control flooding. Channelization by concrete started in 1938
and was completed in 1960. The river is now straighter and
deeper in many locations which moves high volumes of flood
water rapidly downstream to San Pedro Harbor. The Flood
Control District and the Corps share the responsibility for
the operation and management of these flood control and water
conservation facilities.
Today the river begins in Canoga Park at the confluence of
Bell Creek and the Arroyo Calabasas. It flows mostly east
through the San Fernando Valley, where numerous tributaries
join, to Burbank and Griffith Park. The river flows through
13 cities in total and is contained within the County of Los
Angeles. It is now almost entirely lined in concrete,
although there are 3 "soft-bottomed" sections in the Sepulveda
Basin (San Fernando Valley), Griffith Park and in Long Beach.
Particularly along the Lower LA River, industrial activity and
railyards are immediately adjacent to the river and can
effectively isolate it from the surrounding communities.
Although planners had envisioned greenbelts interconnecting
parklands along the river as early as the 1930s, the more
recent interest in the revitalization and promotion of the
re-integration of the river and its tributaries into the
adjacent neighborhoods began in the mid-to-late 1980s. There
was growing recognition that compared to other large American
cities Los Angeles has relatively fewer parks, particularly in
under-represented communities. In the early 1990s, community
activism over turning a railyard adjacent to the river - the
Taylor Yards - into open space coincided with the County of
Los Angeles beginning a process that - after considerable
input from stakeholders and community outreach - resulted in
the County's Los Angeles River Master Plan (County Master
Plan) in 1996.
AB 530
Page 6
The Master Plan described how economic growth could be spurred
along the river in the county through zoning changes and the
development of open space, recreational, cultural, artistic,
educational, and other opportunities. This river
revitalization aimed to "achieve a better river environment
for future generations in the Los Angeles basin." The Los
Angeles City Council established its own ad hoc committee on
the river in 2002 and the City's Master Plan was released in
2007. Continuing the long-term goals of the County Master
Plan, the City Master Plan also promoted the revitalization of
the river as a multi-benefit solution to addressing and
enhancing water quality and flood control while enabling safe
access to the river and restoring a functional river
ecosystem.
In 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
announced that its designation of the LA River as a
"traditional navigable waterway," protected under the Clean
Water Act, would ensure the vitality of the river. The LA
River was also identified in 2010 as a priority by the Obama
administration under the America's Great Outdoors initiative
and is now one of seven pilot cities for the Urban Waters
Federal Partnership. Then, in May 2014, the Army Corps backed
the $1 billion alternative in the Los Angeles River Ecosystem
Restoration Study, a plan to restore an 11-mile stretch of the
LA River from Griffith Park to downtown Los Angeles.
3)Prior and related legislation:
AB 1251 (Gomez) would enact the Greenway Development and
Sustainability Act in order to promote a greenway along the LA
River that focuses on public-private partnerships aimed at
establishing a continuous pedestrian bikeway along the LA
River and its tributaries in order to foster job creation,
AB 530
Page 7
economic development, and community revitalization.
AB 1471 (Rendon), Chapter 188, Statutes of 2014 placed
Proposition 1 on the November 2014 ballot. Prop. 1 was a
successful $7.545 billion dollar general obligation bond for
water-related projects and programs. Prop. 1 includes, among
other provisions, $30 million each for the SMMC and the RMC as
well as $100 million for urban creeks and streams.
SB 1201 (De León), Chapter 212, Statutes of 2012 provided for
public use of the LA River by adding education and
recreational purposes to the LA County Flood Control Act where
those uses were not inconsistent with flood control and water
conservation.
4)Supporting arguments: Supporters state that this bill starts
a conversation about how the entire LA River can be managed
collaboratively because work on the Lower LA River has lagged
behind the upper parts of the river. Supporters state that
there is now a need for a comprehensive revitalization plan
that focuses more attention and resources on the Southeast Los
Angeles County cities.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
City of Bell
City of Cudahy
City of Lakewood
AB 530
Page 8
City of Paramount
Council for Watershed Health
LA River Revitalization Corporation
Public Counsel
Urban Semillas
Watershed Conservation Authority
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096
AB 530
Page 9