Federal Approval Clears Way for Funding of Levee : Rivers: Congress must allocate the first $12 million for project while agencies pledge to work with environmentalists on final design.

Still torn over making the Los Angeles River look more like a stream and less like a storm drain, federal officials Wednesday approved the start of a $312-million levee-building project between South Gate and Long Beach.

But flood control officials promised that they will work with environmentalists to come up with a final design for higher channel walls along a 13-mile stretch of the river before they start pouring concrete.

Wednesday’s approval by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Office of Management and Budget clears the way for Congress to allocate the first $12 million for the controversial project--which is expected to take about seven years to complete.

Engineers said they will start working on improvements to a 900-foot section of Compton Creek before turning to the river to give a proposed task force of environmentalists and local and federal officials time to reach a final riverbank design.

If endorsed by Los Angeles County officials and environmental groups such as Friends of the Los Angeles River and the TreePeople, the panel would spend a year studying ways to include recreational and nature activities along with flood control facilities next to the river.

The design compromise was suggested by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who said the extra year of study can produce a project that will protect a low-lying 82-square-mile area while enhancing the river.

Under the plan, the corps and the county would split the cost of the year’s study. County officials have warned Boxer that they will not contribute unless the environmentalists withdraw a lawsuit they have filed in hopes of blocking the project.

Proposed 15 years ago, the levee project has been sought by the corps and county Department of Public Works.

Chris Stone, project manager for the county, said flood control experts were jarred when a 1980 storm left debris deposited on top of the concrete channel wall north of Long Beach.

“We suspected it didn’t have the capacity for a 100-year storm,” Stone said Wednesday.