LA River Corridor and Surroundings

Use environmentally responsible practices for operations and maintenance of the river channel and adjacent lands.

Healthy, connected urban ecosystems rely not just on large physical investments but on more regular operations and maintenance practices. Environmentally friendly practices and products are widely available today. However, their application often differs from the use of their traditional counterparts, highlighting…

Encourage cities along the river to adopt sustainability strategies.

Adopting sustainability strategies that encourage the use of best practices in the construction, maintenance, and operation of public projects can decrease a city’s environmental footprint, reduce long-term costs, and improve the relationships between buildings and their surrounding environments. In addition to…

Encourage compatibility of the river and adjacent land uses.

The appeal of the LA River corridor can be undercut by adjacent uses that are off-putting due to safety, smell, pollution, or noise. Large blocks of incompatible adjacent uses could act as or be perceived to be a barrier to access…

Ensure design excellence within and along the river corridor.

Excellence in design enhances function. From the earliest stages of project development, it is important to consider how a project can be beautiful while addressing multiple needs of adjacent communities. Design excellence requires an attention to quality of built structures, the…

Complete the LA River Trail so that there is a continuous route along the entire river, and encourage future routes on both sides where feasible.

As a recreation and transportation route, the LA River Trail serves multiple purposes. However, it has yet to live up to its full potential because it is fragmented. A continuous route along the entire river would serve as a major…

Create 51 miles of connected open space along the river.

The LA River has great potential to serve as the backbone of an open space network across LA County. This 51-mile backbone would be unique within the county, providing park space to underserved adjacent communities, offering a variety of experiences from…

Update and improve emergency preparedness.

Although flood infrastructure is in place to protect life and property, flooding can still pose a threat to communities within the floodplain during an extreme storm event. These communities, which are protected from routine floods, must still be prepared. The…

Increase capacity of the river in high risk areas to provide flood risk reduction to at least the 1% (100-year) annual chance flood event or to a level recommended by a risk assessment.

Levels of flood risk management vary along the 51-mile channel. The 1% (100-year) event is used as a target in this plan because it is the standard for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and studies show that using this…

Maintain existing flood carrying capacity of all reaches of the LA River channel.

Because existing development gets close to the channel, it is critical to maintain the existing flood carrying capacity of all reaches of the river to manage flood risk for people and property during storm events.

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Use environmentally responsible practices for operations and maintenance of the river channel and adjacent lands.

Encourage cities along the river to adopt sustainability strategies.

Encourage compatibility of the river and adjacent land uses.

Ensure design excellence within and along the river corridor.

Complete the LA River Trail so that there is a continuous route along the entire river, and encourage future routes on both sides where feasible.

Create 51 miles of connected open space along the river.

Update and improve emergency preparedness.

Increase capacity of the river in high risk areas to provide flood risk reduction to at least the 1% (100-year) annual chance flood event or to a level recommended by a risk assessment.

Maintain existing flood carrying capacity of all reaches of the LA River channel.

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Design Guidelines

Technical Volume