The Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP), adopted back in 1996, provides a long-term framework for river revitalization projects and improvements.
A more-recent city ordinance, the River Improvement Overlay (RIO), focuses more on the design and construction aspects of projects neighboring the river.
Special city-designated districts will follow RIO guidelines to enhance qualities of that neighborhood. RIO guidelines would solely apply to new construction projects and to existing projects undergoing heavy renovations.
A point system is devised to ensure that the developers’ project meets the many goals of revitalization. Some design elements are worth more points than others – for example, utilizing greywater for at least 50% of irrigation earns two points. To earn another two points, developers can choose to complete a class related to native plant gardening.
Note from Storm: Undoing the horrendous civil engineering that killed this natural river–and fragmented dozens of neighborhoods–is crucial to revitalizing a large swath of Los Angeles. So, any policy or regulatory assistance that advances this work is of huge social, environmental, and economic value.