Thanks to everyone who came to the Master Plan Community meeting on May 1st. It was a wonderful showing of people from the neighborhood who are exciting about the future of the Reservoirs. We encourage everyone who wasn't able to attend (and those who did, too!) to COMMENT ONLINE ABOUT THE MASTER PLAN.
The overwhelming majority of people at the event were excited to learn about the Master Plan process and shared their ideas to increase access to the site. We recommend that you comment and share these priorities for the master plan - plus your own! Ask the City to:
Reduce the size of the DWP footprint on the site as much as possible, to the minimum area required to maintain water operations
Provide safe and beautiful public access through wetlands and natural banks that increase wildlife habitat and improve water health
Remove fences to increase public access
Focus on long-term sustainability and the future of water for our region
Include the LADWP operational needs in the Master Plan Process, to minimize visual impacts, and postpone new building projects until the plan is complete.
We encourage you to add your own priorities to this list! The City has approved close to $3 Million to support a robust and thorough master planning process. We have the opportunity through the comment process to make recommendations about the consultant that will be hired to support the process.
The City has also made the project description available online for the community to review and comment on, and is asking for feedback about the consultant that will be hired.
We hope the consultant will be a multidisciplinary team that includes experience repurposing public infrastructure, water engineering experts, landscape architects, creative designers of beautiful public space, conservation and wildlife expertise, and expertise in outreach and engagement of diverse communities. We know the wildlife and the community can exist in harmony at the Reservoir site, and look forward to working with the Master Plan consultant on the best way to make that happen.
All of the members of the Coalition for Silver Lake (The Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy, Silver Lake Now, and us) are encouraging our memberships to share their comments - we've worked hard to get the funds for the Master Plan approved, and want to make sure it reflects as much community participation as possible at every stage.
We can't wait to see the proposals to create the new Master Plan for this incredible public space. Don't forget to share your comments online before 5/22! We'll keep you up to date as the Bureau of Engineering moves through the process of selecting the consultant, and we anticipate that the community will get to weigh in on the finalists this fall.
