Envisioning a Greenbelt, Woo Urges L.A. River Building Ban

City Councilman Michael Woo proposed Friday that the city severely restrict building above the Los Angeles River and next to it, saying the river should be a long, narrow greenbelt stretching from the West San Fernando Valley to the Los Angeles Harbor.

Woo said his proposal is the outgrowth of Wednesday’s council vote to permit a paved parking lot next to the river in Studio City over the objections of homeowners who want to preserve the area as open space.

He was absent for the roll call but said he would have voted to permit the parking, explaining in an interview that it would be wrong to disallow it in the absence of a plan to preserve the area. Woo said the parking lot would be permitted to remain even if his preservation proposal is approved by the City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley.

There is scattered development on a narrow strip of land next to the river. The Los Angeles County Flood Control District is considering requests to lease the airspace above the river for private development, including apartments.

Safety Studied

Ken Putman, deputy director of property management for the county Public Works Department, said the county is studying whether structures could be built safely over the river.

Woo’s proposal, introduced at Friday’s council meeting, seeks to establish a six-month moratorium, with a possible six-month extension, on development over the river and next to it. It would give city planners time to develop a plan to preserve the river area as open space, Woo said.

The 52-mile concrete-walled river serves as a flood-control channel, carrying storm waters from Canoga Park east across the Valley to Burbank and Glendale before heading south to the Los Angeles Harbor.

The flood control district owns much of the land next to the river, but some of it is privately owned and zoned for a wide range of uses.

Before the council can vote on Woo’s proposal, city planners will have to prepare a plan recommending how wide a swath of land along the river should be included in a moratorium.

Further Planning Foreseen

If the council approves the moratorium, city planners will prepare a more detailed plan recommending whether the city should allow development over and next to the river, and if so, where. The study also will identify sources of funding for buying property, if necessary, to preserve the riverfront as open space, and for financing landscaping there and recreational facilities, such as bike paths.

Woo’s proposal was routinely sent to the council’s Recreation, Library and Cultural Affairs Committee for a recommendation.

Putman said he has no immediate reaction to Woo’s proposal but said the county flood control district, to raise money, wants to lease its airspace and riverfront property “as much as possible.”

Woo said he does not plan to extend the proposed building moratorium to other flood-control channels, including the Tujunga Wash, which homeowners in the northeast Valley have sought to preserve as open space.