History

Save LA River Open Space is dedicated to permanently preserving the last remaining unprotected open space along the Los Angeles River in the San Fernando Valley for this and future generations.

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Regional Significance of LA River Open Space Property - Studio City
This 16 acre property is the ONLY unprotected open space for 22 miles on the LA River between Canoga Park and the 170 freeway. It is a vital part of the LA River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP) adopted by the Los Angeles City Council in 2008, and is listed in that plan as an "opportunity site" for "additional water quality treatments, such as bioinfiltration swales and detention basins."

DEVELOPMENT THREATENS FUTURE OF LA RIVER OPEN SPACE:
200-unit Development Proposed

Development Description		Site Plan		Parking Plan

Click the above for development details.

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Well-known environmental attorneys Chatten-Brown and Carstens filed a 16-page letter on behalf of the Studio City Residents Association in response to the Notice of Preparation for the proposed development, raising numerous legal concerns about the project. Some excerpts from the filed legal letter: "The overarching concern with the project… [is] that it would result in the loss of an important recreational resource and eliminate the only potential site for habitat restoration and public access trailhead and staging area adjacent to the Los Angeles River in the San Fernando Valley, impeding regional efforts to revitalize the L.A. River and further the L.A. River Greenway Trail while generating significant environmental impacts on its surroundings."

Chatten-Brown and Carstens also requested that the Draft Environmental Impact Report comprehensively analyze alternatives to the project, including a multi-use project that combines a multi-acre LA Riverfront park as part of the regional LA River Greenway with on-site water catchment and filtration to address the inflow of contaminated waters into the LA River and the need for open space and recreation in the San Fernando Valley.

About the Development Process
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) process is underway, and the Draft EIR is expected in 2009. The property is currently zoned Agricultural. Development of this property would require two major land use changes: a zone change and a general plan amendment. Development would also require L.A. City Council approval of the development. The owner and developer must follow a public process set out in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), often including the steps outlined below.
Click here for an excellent detailed explanation of the CEQA process.

"A natural, river-oriented park that integrates the Los Angeles River, habitat restoration, regional public access, open space and natural treatment of runoff to improve water quality." The leadership of Save L.A. River Open Space is dedicated to an innovative, forward-thinking vision for this unique L.A. Riverfront property: the L.A. River Natural Park. This vision would protect, restore and celebrate the irreplaceable L.A. River open space attributes of this property, address serious regional polluted runoff issues by integrating natural water quality treatment, help address flooding issues, and provide regional staging and access to the L.A. River Greenway easily accessible to all San Fernando Valley residents.

Community Survey shows Priority is Protecting Open Space

Partnering with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

The  Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) is a regional and state leader in open space preservation and restoration. The SMMC granted CCI funding to carry out the initial technical and hydrology research, planning, outreach and design necessary to develop a forward-thinking concept vision for the site. The SCRA matched this grant in order to create this vision.

The SMMC spearheaded the first acquisitions of land along the L.A. River in the 1990s, and continues to lead efforts to transform lands along the river and its tributaries into green open spaces that support native habitat, provide people with a welcome respite from urban noise and congestion, and help capture, filter and clean polluted runoff to protect our rivers, bays, beaches and ocean.

Go to Water Quality River Parks to see examples of some of these exciting, cutting-edge water quality/riverfront park projects in Los Angeles County.

Community Pitches in to Raise Funds to Move Vision Forward
To commission a design such as this is a lengthy and costly project. In the summer of 2008, the Committee held a formal fundraiser, co-hosted by State Assemblymember Mike Feuer and L.A. City Councilmember Wendy Greuel, with the lovely locale generously provided by Laurie Cohn. Nearly 100 people attended, including L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Bob Blumenfield from the office of U.S. Congressman Howard Berman, Fran Pavley (now State Senator), and Assemblymember Lloyd Levine. Attendees were able to pose questions to Lynn Dwyer from BlueGreen, a specialist in creating natural river parks with a water quality focus.

And We Still Need Your Help!
We are dedicated to permanently preserving this unique property – and we continue to need your help! Every dollar counts.

Thanks to many of you, our fundraising efforts have been very successful to date. But one of our biggest challenges is to keep moving this vision forward, and to make sure that we are able to do what it takes to permanently preserve this threatened property.  Many thanks to all who have contributed in the past. 

Please continue to support these efforts! Go to Take Action to make a contribution today!
History of Property

This 16-acre site is located on the L.A. River in Studio City, between Whitsett Avenue and Coldwater Canyon. The property is adjacent to a 20 to 40 foot wide county right-of-way along the L.A. River, and the facility currently uses part the L.A. River right-of-way owned by L.A. County. It has been used as recreational open space for more than fifty years, providing a popular and regionally-used small golf course, putting green, driving range and tennis courts, all open to the public, and owned by the Weddington family. The L.A. County Flood Control District owns and maintains the wide and unpaved right-of-way along the L.A. River adjacent to the property and the concrete flood channel.

In the early 1970s, the project site was down-zoned from residential to its current agricultural (A-l) zoning pursuant to an agreement among the owner (Weddington), SCGCI, and the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles to permanently maintain the property as recreational open space. This was an enormous tax benefit for the owner, as property taxes for agriculturally-zoned property are extremely low. As a result, the County has lost millions of dollars of property tax revenue.

Community Plan designates property as open space
The property is designated as open space on the Sherman Oaks-Studio City-Toluca Lake-Cahuenga Pass Community Plan, which comprises the applicable land use element of the City's General Plan.

Conclusion
Although we recognize the need for quality senior housing, we believe that this laudable goal should not be accomplished by destroying existing unique open space in the San Fernando Valley, and especially not along the Los Angeles River. Moreover, it must be emphasized that the proposed development is not a low income senior housing community, but rather is an upscale, for-profit residential development providing numerous amenities, including a health center, dining, exercise and arts and crafts facilities.