The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering has announced plans for a new master plan of the San Fernando Valley’s Sepulveda Basin from OLIN, Agency Artifact, Geosyntec, and a team of collaborating consultants. 

The $4.8 billion Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan will unfold over 25 years and covers an area spanning more than 2,000 acres between Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, and Encino that is currently considered ‘park-poor’ by urban planning standards, according to Urbanize LA’s report on the announcement Wednesday.

The area includes segments covered in the LA River revitalization plan. The project will rehabilitate existing wildlife areas while installing a total of 46 new projects, some of which are scheduled to be included as venues in the 2028 Olympics. A new civic plaza and pedestrian walk will also be created along Victory Boulevard. Olin says it will become the “‘Central Park’ for the San Fernando Valley.”

By acreage, the plan covers an area more than twice the size of New York’s landmark and roughly half the size of Griffith Park, which is about 10 miles to the east. Three existing golf courses totaling about 500 acres will be retained and reconfigured, resolving a point of contention between the community and planners that held the process back for some time.

According to the city, the plan will work to effect the following agenda items long-term:

• Increase resilience of the Basin and surrounding neighborhoods
• Increase ecosystem function within the Basin using nature-based solutions.
• Create natural functioning of the LA River and Tributaries
• Improve interface between recreation and ecological areas.
• Improve water quality of streams and outlets entering the Basin.
• Improve multi-modal transportation access to the Basin and within the Basin.
• Enhance recreational, educational and cultural programming.

“The Sepulveda Basin is one of the great and underappreciated treasures of Los Angeles, the lungs of the San Fernando Valley,” Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian said in a statement. “With a restored Los Angeles River as its source and center, the Sepulveda Basin can become the complete community resource so many of us have dreamed of, an oasis where we can escape from the everyday stress of city life and enjoy the splendors of nature without traveling more than a few miles from our centers of commerce and industry.”

A final draft of the plan is expected by the end of next year. SWA Group also revealed plans for a 1,200-acre park in Orange County in the past year. No timelines for construction have been published yet. Additional details about the Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan can be found here.