TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute all documents required for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, through the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000, for the Colorado Lagoon Wetlands Restoration Project. (District 3)
DISCUSSION
The Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine (PRM) has identified a grant opportunity through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Coastal Wetlands Conservation (NCWC) Grant Program, to help fund the current shortfall in the budget of the Colorado Lagoon Wetlands Restoration project. The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (Section 304, Title III, Public Law 101-646, 16 U.S.C. 3954) established the NCWC grant program to acquire, restore, and enhance wetlands in coastal states through competitive matching grants. The City is partnering with the California Coastal Conservancy, who will take the lead in this application.
The Colorado Lagoon is a 28.3-acre tidal lagoon in the middle of a residential neighborhood, hosting sensitive estuarine habitat, providing public recreation, and retaining and conveying storm flows. Water and sediment contamination has occurred at the Lagoon due to it being surrounded by residential neighborhoods, a golf course, and its location in a highly urbanized watershed. Although a popular swim area, the State Water Quality Control Board identified the Lagoon as an impaired water body, closing it for much of the summer of 2006. The costs for the planned restoration come to approximately $12,650,000.
Funding partners include the State Water Resources Control Board ($3,823,868), the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy ($150,000), the California State Coastal Conservancy ($500,000), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ($900,000), and the Port of Long Beach ($235,000). Total project funding secured to date is $5,608,868. The funding shortfall is currently...
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