Groups Agree to Halt Suit Over Flood-Control Project
After being assured a role in future decision-making and that alternatives to erecting concrete walls will be studied, environmental groups have agreed not to immediately file suit to stop a $312-million flood control project on the lower Los Angeles River and its tributaries.
The agreement not to file a legal challenge as long as Los Angeles County and the Army Corps of Engineers act in good faith was reached Tuesday after a week of intense negotiations.
The Board of Supervisors, which last week approved the project, on Tuesday unanimously endorsed the agreement, which will establish a task force and steering committee to examine how to manage the Los Angeles River watershed.
Supervisor Deane Dana supported the agreement because he said it is “absolutely vital that there be no delays” in the project to control a 100-year flood.
The project would involve erecting four-foot walls along much of the lower river, the Rio Hondo Channel and Compton Creek.
But the environmental group, Friends of the Los Angeles River, has offered an alternative approach that would emphasize upstream storage, water retention basins and a wider channel in Long Beach.
Attorney Jan Chatten-Brown said environmental groups are pleased with the agreement.
She said it requires a study to be undertaken on the feasibility of the alternative approach.
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