TITLE
Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager to submit a grant application to the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District in the amount of $5 million for Los Angeles River projects in the City of Long Beach. (Districts 1,7,8,9)
DISCUSSION
In November 1992 and November 1996, the voters of Los Angeles County approved Proposition A, the Safe Neighborhood Parks proposition. As a result, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) was allocated $12 million in funding for projects that benefit the lower Los Angeles River. Don Knabe, Los Angeles County Fourth District Supervisor, has requested that the MRCA assign $5 million of these funds to the City of Long Beach (City) for projects related to the Los Angeles River. These funds would be used as follows:
> DeForest Wetlands Development - $2.5 million: This project will recreate 34 acres of historic wetlands, scrub, and woodland habitat, as well as provide water quality improvement, passive recreational amenities, and interpretive enhancements, while retaining flood control properties to create a river parkway along the Los Angeles River from the existing DeForest Park to Del Amo Boulevard. This is a joint project between the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, the California Coastal Conservancy, the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC), and the City of Long Beach.
> Drake/Chavez Greenbelt Acquisition - $1 million: The 0.78 acres to be acquired will become part of a greenway connecting the 23-acre Cesar E. Chavez Park to the six acres of Drake Park. When completed, this greenway will be 46 acres of open space containing wetlands and wildlife habitat in a unique and biologically significant area where salt water meets fresh water at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. The cost of the parcel is $2.7 million, of which $1.7 million has already been secured from California Proposition 13 funds through the RMC, Los Angeles County Proposition A Excess Reve...
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