Local and state officials unveiled the final vision plan Monday for the 2,000-acre Sepulveda Basin.
L.A. Chief Deputy Engineer Deborah Weintraub told KNX News’ Karen Adams the basin is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers as a food control facility.
“Over the years, the city has leased more and more of the basin for recreational activities and they're really important to the community, but it was done kind of piecemeal," Weintraub said. “So this is the first time the city is really undertaking an overall vision plan that also takes advantage of really the only place in the city where we can naturalize the river.”
She explained this means widening and returning the river to its original habitat. Earlier projects of the plan included restorative work on the wildlife area and improving access to Balboa Lake from Victory Blvd.
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“What would be really exciting is to see a prioritization of ecosystem restoration and really truly taking climate and the changes that we're seeing going into the future,” Kelsey Jessup with the Nature Conservancy said.
State Sen. Henry Stern presented a $2.5 million check at the unveiling that help get some early projects started at Lake Balboa.
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