Another creek faces the pipe – San Fernando Valley edition
March 28, 2011 § 9 Comments
April 4th is the deadline to give comment on a draft EIR that if approved will consign another small creek to permanent pipe-age in the City of LA.
[Updated paragraph] Download the draft EIR from this City of LA site by clicking Environmental/Draft EIR in the left panel of that page. Then click on the bold-font title of The Village at Westfield Topanga to be taken to a download site. That bold font fooled me when I first wrote this post, didn’t understand that it was a hyperlink. Thanks to readers for setting me straight! It can also be found at the Central Library, and Woodland Hills, Canoga Park and Platt Branch libraries or purchased on CD-Rom.
The creek – located at Owensmouth and Victory in the San Fernando Valley, has been dubbed Owensmouth Creek by locals. Its history is a little tricky to me, as it doesn’t appear on historical USGS maps. GIS data from the County of Los Angeles, however, does indicate what looks to be a diversion of drainage from Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, labelled as an open channel. Navigate LA calls it a city stormdrain, D-17768. But more incontrovertible is photography. Jim Anderson, of the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council, shared with me a photo of the threatened waterway.
- Destined for a pipe? Photo: Roger Gerrish, provided courtey Jim Anderson.
Channel? Bed? Banks? Sediment? Water (including seasonal)? Direction of Flow?
Looks like we’ve got a stream that meets the City’s definition. So why again is this small edge of the property being piped and paved, not set aside as a public park, or dare we suggest, part of the Low Impact Development/stormwater mitigation plan?
I’m told it’s needed for part of a Costco members’ service station at the planned Village at Westfield Topanga, folks.
I’ll just leave us all to ponder that for now.
Coverage in the Daily News here.
Send comments by 4/4 to:
Elva Nuño-O’Donnell, City Planner
City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning
6262 Van Nuys Boulevard, Room 351
Los Angeles, California 91401
(818) 374-5070 (fax)
Elva.nuno-odonnell@lacity.org
L.A. Creek Freak 
Crying shame. Will send a message.
I’m a member of Costco and this CEO does tend to listen.
We’ll see.
Jessica, the DEIR for the Village at Westfield Topanga is available on City Planning’s Website for viewing (and download as PDF). See Here:
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/eir/The%20Village%20at%20Westfield/DEIR/index.html
The only issue is that you have to download each section individually.
Thank you Darryl. I went back to City Planning website to see how I missed it, and I still don’t see a clear way to this link! How did you find it?
Once you are on the DEIR or EIR section of City Planning’s website you can click on the title of the project and that leads you to the document.
I must admit, it is really hard to find if you don’t already know where it is.
Wow, that is some sly hyperlinking. Thank you for the clarification – will update my post tomorrow sans rant, or at least, tempered down.
Thank you for this article. Every effort helps. The photo, however, was taken by Roger Gerrish and submitted by me.
I’ll also make the correction there manana. Thanks, Jim.
Here’s the DEIR (February 2011): http://cityplanning.lacity.org/EIR/VillageWestfield/DEIR/index.html
And the later FEIR (July 2011): http://cityplanning.lacity.org/EIR/VillageWestfield/FEIR%20with%20ERRATA/index.html
I too absolutely love this little creek in the corner. It’s actually one of the many very nice pieces of hidden geography in our area that shows itself since the land is exposed as it’s lower than street level. It also makes a very nice landscaping in front of the seasonal pumpkin patch and Christmas tree lot that uses this space since the bank was raized… Every effort should be made to preserve this and it could even being incorporated into the plan making for some very nice landscaping on the corner of the future Costco.
By the way.. The spot is referenced as “Gateway Element on corner” on pages 41&42 of Section II. Project Description in the DEIR (LINK: http://cityplanning.lacity.org/EIR/VillageWestfield/FEIR%20with%20ERRATA/files/II.%20%20Project%20Description.pdf) so if they’re smart, they will hopefully decide to leave it as is and have it be incorporated somehow..