TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to accept non-monetary donations of planning, labor, and materials for the construction of a California native plant garden and perimeter landscaping at Rancho Los Cerritos; and execute a right-of-entry permit and any related documents with the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation for the construction of the project for a term of two years. (District 8)
DISCUSSION
In 2002, the City Council approved the Rancho Los Cerritos Master Plan, which included the construction of a California native plant garden (Project) in the northwest corner of the Rancho Los Cerritos (Rancho) property (Attachment).
On January 18, 2013, the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation (Foundation) submitted a letter to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine (PRM) notifying PRM of the receipt of a $400,000 grant from the Port of Long Beach, and requesting a right-of-entry permit to allow the Foundation access to the Rancho to construct the Project. City Council approval of a right-of-entry permit and acceptance of non-monetary donations is requested in order to allow the Foundation to construct the Project. The Project will extend from the recently constructed Visitor’s Center to the northwest corner of the Rancho property and will open up over 30,000 square feet of restored landscape. The total estimated cost of the Project is $473,139. The Foundation will provide the remaining $73,139.
Construction of the Project will restore native habitat, improve aesthetics, address watershed drainage and hillside erosion issues, and expand passive recreational use of the Rancho. An automatic water-saving irrigation system, which includes a rain sensor to conserve water, is included in the Project. Once the Project is complete and combined with the native planting around the Visitor’s Center, along the western perimeter of the property, and at the recently rehabilitated arroyo, over 1.5 contiguous acres of land will have been restored through native pl...
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