Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan
Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan
The Sepulveda Basin was created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1940s as a flood management reservoir following the construction of the Sepulveda Dam. Today, it serves as a wildlife habitat and an important open space in the San Fernando Valley.
In June of 2024, the City of Los Angeles (City) Bureau of Engineering (BOE) in partnership with the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP), the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC), and the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA) completed the Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan. The Vision Plan process included extensive community engagement and a technical advisory committee to determine goals for the future of the Basin. A key outcome of the process was the community’s support for extensive re-wilding of the 2½ miles of LA River that runs through the area.
In addition, the Vision Plan outlines forty-seven specific projects, including Project 16, proposed by FALA and described as follows:
The new restaurant, education center, and gardens will be designed to front the civic promenade and complement the surrounding improvements made by the Sepulveda Vision Plan.
The environmental education center will provide indoor and outdoor classrooms that will be designed to be a part of the LAUSD Environmental Sciences and Sustainability curriculum.
The restaurant will provide a space for the Tongva, Tataviam, and Chumash tribes to showcase traditional indigenous recipes and model sustainable ways of living using produce grown in the gardens integrated with support from executive chef Sean Sherman’s North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems. A formal kitchen garden will provide opportunities for school groups to learn about sustainable gardening and nutrition, while a foraging garden will provide opportunities to learn about Indigenous methods of gathering food, native habitats, and pollinators.
Subsequent to the launch of the Vision Plan, FALA’s development and funding responsibilities were increased to include additional projects in the NW corner of Lake Balboa Park, namely Project 17 (resilience & community centers), part of Project 18 (civic promenade) and Project 22 (restoration of Bull Creek).
Plans for re-wilding the LA River also impacts the restoration of Bull Creek whose watershed includes the mountains north of Granada Hills. This catchment area provides the second largest flow into the Sepulveda Basin, after the mainstem of the LA River. This is further outlined in a Dechannelization Technical Study, published by the BOE In October 2025 which together with the Vision Plan and ongoing studies will provide significant data for LAUSD’s Environmental Studies and Sustainability Curriculum. The Dechannelization Technical Study outlined its objectives as follows:
A primary goal of the Vision Plan is to naturalize the LA River and the six tributaries in the Basin, returning the Basin to a more naturally functioning system that increases flood storage capacity, reduces nuisance erosion due to high velocity flows and unstable banks, and enhances habitat and biodiversity.
The dechannelization of the LA River in the Sepulveda Basin is a once-in-a-century opportunity to significantly address climate priorities to increase flood storage, decrease urban heat island effects, reduce fire risk by addressing invasive vegetation, and support access to nature for severely disadvantaged communities in the heart of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, a region with over 10,000,000 Californians within an hour of the LA River.
The dechannelization project proposes to increase the flood storage capacity of the Sepulveda Basin by 10-15%. Upstream from the only dam along the mainstem of the LA River, the Basin manages ~20% of the LA River watershed and offers a significant opportunity to reduce climate risk for downstream communities along the middle and lower LA River, particularly residents in Studio City, the Glendale Narrows, and even the South Los Angeles Plain who would be harmed by an overtopping event at Sepulveda Dam. Climate projections show more intense rains and more intense droughts in the future, with the current 1% storm shifting to be a ~1.5% storm, meaning more frequent, larger rain events.
The Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan has received multiple awards honoring the team which produced it, including Project Director, Mark Hanna, and Design Lead, Jessica Henson: the 2025 Excellence in Urban Design Award from the APA Los Angeles Chapter, the 2024 Merit Award for Urban Design from the American Institute of Architects California Chapter and an Honor Award for Analysis and Planning from the World Landscape Architecture and the American Society of Landscape Architects.