How City of Long Beach Turned Downtown Shoreline Tidelands Area It Was Supposed To Use For Tidelands Purposes Into Area It Admits Has Become Useless For Tidelands Purposes; In Response, Two State Agencies Enabled Change Of Retail/Entertainment Complex Into Retail Store Outlet Center
Public was shown glitzy graphics, city officials said it would bring waterfront closer to downtown; local activists predicted "shopping center by the sea"
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(Dec. 1, 2014) -- On November 14, 2014, the CA Coastal Commission approved an amendment to its permit for the Long Beach's Queensway Bay/Pike development area, enabling uses approved by the State Lands Commission that the City of Long Beach sought to facilitate retail uses not otherwise allowed by the state in the city's tidelands.
A little over ten years ago, Long Beach city officials told the public that the "Queensway Bay entertainment and retail complex" would be a destination-magnitude development that would create a "critical mass" and bring the waterfront closer to downtown. The project, which at the time it came before the Council for approval was opposed by a number of coastal protection advocates and some downtown business interests north of Ocean Blvd., has since been renamed "The Pike at Rainbow Harbor" and is now being marketed as the "Outlets at the Pike."
[Scroll down for further]
The Coastal Commission permit amendment -- its 17th since its original permit in 1999 -- is described in its agendizing materials as: "Redevelopment of The Pike at Rainbow Harbor commercial retail and entertainment complex into a retail store outlet center..." (Full Coastal Comm'n permit amendment with configuration changes, click here.)
The description of the project originally approved by the Coastal Commission on Feb. 3, 1999 was "Construction of a 508,550 sq. ft. commercial retail and entertainment complex on the waterfront."
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Responding to the project's transformation into a retail store outlet center, LB Mayor Robert Garcia heralded the outcome on social media as "new chapter" in the area's history.
To enable State Lands Commission approval for the change, the City of Long Beach, via a public vote of its City Council, had to acknowledge that under the City's stewardship, the downtown tidelands project area had become [verbiage of CA Pub. Resources Code section 6307] "no longer available or useful or susceptible of being used for navigation and fishing, are no longer in fact tidelands or submerged lands..." (June 21, 2013, 8-0 [Garcia absent for entire meeting]) The Council vote authorized seeking State Lands Commission approval to remove Tidelands Trust protection from the "Queensway Bay" (now "Pike @ Rainbow Harbor") development site in exchange for the city placing tidelands restrictions on other city owned property elsewhere (archival audio below.)
Grassroots coastal protection advocates previously won a Court of Appeal ruling that struck down an initial City pursued "land swap" that attempted to remove tidelands protections from some the project's commercial footprints. In response at City Hall's request, Sacramento lawmakers (including those from LB, details below) used their "gut and amend" procedure (stripping language from one bill, inserting new language to avoid usual hearings and debate) to pass a bill mooting the Court of Appeal ruling.
The legislation effectively invited LB City Hall to re-do the land swap, which it did, this time stripping tidelands restrictions/protections from an even larger portion of the Queensway Bay/Pike development. The enabling legislation (SB 365) passed with the "yes" votes of then LB-area Assemblymembers Betty Karnette (D., LB), Jenny Oropeza (D., LB-Carson) and state Senator Alan Lowenthal (D., LB-SP-PV).
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Our Amnesia File coverage below recalls what the City of Long Beach told the public, enabled and delivered on some of the most valuable coastal public land in California via a contract with its chosen private/developer operator. The area is just steps from where the City now proposes a new Civic Center to be financed/built/operated/maintained for forty years on public land by a still-to-be-chosen private developer/operator.
LBREPORT.com Archival Coverage
(Sept. 17, 2001) -- In a high visibility session telecast statewide from a Sacramento Capitol hearing room, the CA State Lands Commission (SLC) has voted 3-0 to approve a City Hall sought tidelands trust exchange that will remove roughly three acres of certain QW Bay retail/entertainment use footprints from tidelands trust protection in exchange for putting tidelands trust designation on roughly 10 acres of L.A. river area parcels (including part of a current freeway median) west and northerly of Cesar Chavez Park. [Ed. note: this initial land swap was subsequently overturned by a Court of Appeal. That ruling was mooted when the state legislature enacted a bill enabling City Hall to arrange an even larger land swap.]...
Several prominent LB area activists trekked over 400 miles (each way) to testify against the tidelands swap...LB City Hall sent a high level delegation to support the exchange...
Following the vote, City Hall issued a press release quoting LB Mayor Beverly O'Neill as follows:
"We are pleased with the State Lands Commission's decision to approve the land exchange between the City and the State which clears the way for our City to move forward with this vital component to our economic development. We have no doubt that DDR will meet its May 31, 2002 deadline. We appreciate the efforts of the Commission and its staff. We are particularly grateful to the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante for guiding this issue to a successful conclusion.
The new project, approximately 450,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities, will provide a much-needed pedestrian and visual linkage between Pine Avenue and the new public waterfront. We are anxiously awaiting DDR's long-anticipated groundbreaking"
The release quoted City Manager Henry Taboada as follows:
Our goal has always been to bring the waterfront closer to downtown. The strength of the original plan was in the creation of a critical mass of activity at the foot of Pine Avenue, within walking distance of the expanded Convention Center and Pine Avenue; the proposed commercial development further knits these areas together as one."
Reached for comment after the State Lands Commission vote, Phil Hampton, LB based spokesman for developer DDR told LBReport.com:
"DDR has been following the City's discussions with the State Lands Commission and is pleased to see they have been resolved. We continue to work on leasing and moving toward a groundbreaking." DDR, which is not a party to the tidelands exchange agreement, has previously said the tidelands matter was an issue between the City and the State Lands Commission, and it was for the City to resolve...
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(May 14, 2002) -- Confetti flew, the Mayor [Beverly O'Neill] beamed and the City Manager and developer DDR's officials were all smiles at a gala kick-off ceremony for construction of the Pike at Rainbow Harbor today.
"I feel like pinching myself to know this is really happening today! I can't tell you how excited I am by this," an exuberant Mayor Beverly O'Neill told a crowd of invited city officials, business leaders and local media.
Invoking images and icons of LB's former Pike amusement area, developer DDR said in a written release:
"Like the Pike of old, the Pike at Rainbow Harbor will feature many cafes and public gathering places and become a vital element in the day-to-day life of Long Beach, drawing visitors from throughout the region."
The company release continued:
"The cinema will include state-of-the-art THX digital sound, automated projection, all stadium seating with high-backed chairs, gourmet concession areas and other amenities. Gameworks is a 40,000 square foot entertainment destination, the ultimate party place where guests can eat, drink, party and play. The new GameWorks at the Pike at Rainbow Harbor will feature a full service restaurant, with a fantastic menu and casual decor; a cool, high energy bar serving signature martinis and specialty cocktails, interactive games, and state-of-the-art bowling lanes."
"DDR has signed agreements with California Pizza Kitchen, Harry's Bar, National Sports Grill, Carnival Club, Mai Tai, Guaymas, Killer Shrimp, Prego, Gladstone's, Great Steak & Potato, Subway, Coldstone Creamery, Daphne's Greek Cafe, Islands Burgers and Quizno's."
In its written release, DDR indicated that opening is expected in 2003, and DDR's Rod Chisessi indicated from the podium that a 15 month construction period could put the opening in roughly September, 2003.
The event, which took place inside a tent on the NW corner of Pine Ave. and Shoreline Drive, included a ceremonial earth-turning and comments by LB officialdom and DDR representatives. We provide sights and transcript excerpts, below.
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Mayor Beverly O'Neill
Mayor O'Neill: ...I've never seen so many sign offs, negotiations, committee meetings, public scrutiny, economic and theater and financing setbacks and the delays that came from legal setbacks. So this has gone on for a long time, but it's behind us! Isn't that exciting? [applause] And we can now look forward to developing the largest waterfront complex in southern California. It's really a defining moment for the city of Long Beach, because this is the final piece of the puzzle that was initiated ten years ago...And I can remember when I was first Mayor in 1994, [now retired City Manager] Jim Hankla and I would look out the window and say, see that parking lot out there? That's the most desirable piece of property in southern California. And it's going to have something on it that's going to make us all proud.
And finally, after I'll say 12 years of active planning, and probably 15-20 years of bringing things together, because people would say, why do we need all these hotels on Ocean Blvd.? Well, that's because the Convention Center wasn't finished. Now we need more hotels. So it takes a lot of time to put all this together. So no other community in southern California can offer the combination of venues that will be located here. And once the Pike at Rainbow Harbor is completed, Carnival Cruises will be here attracting thousands of people to the city. People will have an opportunity to visit this Pike, the Queen Mary, the Aquarium of the Pacific and many of our outstanding restaurants that we have right around here.
And we shouldn't forget the number of new residents that are coming. As you're standing here and you look up and see the Camden Project, the "Park at Harbour View,"...and look at the number of people that's going to add to the downtown area. They're going to be able to walk to the downtown, walk to the Pike, and all of the things that are going to be available.
So in addition to the sales tax, and the lease revenue that the city will be realizing, one of the major features of this is it's going to create hundreds of jobs...
So with the new developments going on from the downtown, and CityPlace under construction, that also is a DDR project, our community is going under a massive revitalization that will change our landscape really forever.
Long Beach will never be the city it was twenty years ago. But cities should not stand still. If they stand still, they fall behind and Long Beach is moving ahead like no other community in California."
City Manager Henry Taboada
City Manager Henry Taboada: Well good morning. Do you believe it? [shouts, yeah]. What a glorious day it is...
My task this morning is to thank all of the folks who have had so much to do with this project, and to share with you my joy, and my gratitude, for all that has happened and for all that is about to happen.
First to the Mayor. I couldn't thank the Mayor enough. She was there from the beginning and she has persevered along with staff, at every turn of this project, and has been steadfast in her support, and has never wavered...
I want to thank the City Council, both past and present...but this Council at every turn took courageous steps...and held firm in their belief that this was the right project...
Now people think that the financial aspect of this just comes together somehow magically behind the scenes and the construction is really all there is to it. But before there is a project there has to be financing, and I want to give my special thanks to a good colleague and friend of mine...Bob Torrez and his finance team...[applause]
Now City Managers, as Jim Hankla will tell you, are only as good the people they work for and with, and I work for and with a great management team consisting of all of my senior management staff...and all of my department heads who've persevered through this, and former staff like Bob Paternoster who along with [QW Bay project advisory committee member] Phil Infelise was instrumental in bringing this project to where it is today...
What can I say about DDR? Rod Chisessi. What a bulldog...There have been times when I wondered what this guy was made of. But he's held on, he's done his job, and...[this project]...is going to be profitable for DDR and for the city of Long Beach. Eric Mallory...Someone who had a vision about this project and...gave us courage to keep going with this project.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't give special thanks to just a small group of people. First of all, Dean Oliver here...On a piece of a napkin, basically, after a lunch we went out here and we designed the parking structure that's going to be the mainstay of this project and who taught me a lot and kept me focused on this project...[credits others not mentioned here]
Let me close by saying to that portly gentleman at 6th and Pine [Press-Telegram location, apparent reference to veteran columnist Tom Hennessy, currently losing weight] who reported as recently as two weeks ago that this project didn't pass the smell test. [light laughter] Get over it, Tom. It's time to smell the roses. [laughter] Thank you... [applause]
...Vice Mayor Dan Baker's office told us he was unable to attend due to medical attention needed following a recent traffic accident. Former 6th district Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Doris Topsy-Elvord was also in the crowd, as well as retired LB City Manager James C. Hankla and current Assistant City Manager Jerry Miller...
Randy Gordon from the LB Area Chamber of Commerce is interviewed by City Hall's Channel 21.
(May 22, 2002) -- Like a tale of two cities, it was either the best of times or the worst of times.
Outside City Hall, accompanied by sorrowful bagpipes, grassroots LB activists...gathered for what was termed a "heartbreaking" ceremony, alternately mourning and ridiculing officialdom's support for the Pike at Rainbow Harbor project. (Last week, city officials joined developer DDR for a ceremony marking the imminent start of construction).
Meanwhile, inside City Hall, fax machines sent press releases cheering word that Gov. Gray Davis had signed a final document effectively ratifying the State Lands Commission "land swap" last fall. (The "land swap" removed state tidelands designation from certain commercial footprints in the project area in exchange for the state receiving land from the City of LB along the L.A. river that will now carry tidelands designation.)
Downstairs in the Council Chamber, Mayor Beverly O'Neill (who had been momentarily absent from the chair) returned to explain the reason for her temporary disappearance:
"I just received a call from the Governor's office, and the Governor's office has informed us that the Governor signed the bill that came from the State Lands [Commission]...this is the final step in the development of Queensway Bay and the process...And so that just happened this afternoon and I just got a telephone call, so I wanted to let you know where I was."
The Mayor's news was met by eerie silence. Many in the audience had come for an agenda item concerning alley and infrastructure repairs...and some believe City personnel and resources were previously shifted away from neighborhood tasks to handle aspects of QW Bay project...
...[M]edia outlets were sent a City Hall press release quoting Mayor O'Neill as follows:
"This is a momentous occasion. It will be a pleasure to watch the Pike at Rainbow Harbor unfold during the development stage. I anticipate seeing both residents and visitors enjoying the Pike at Rainbow Harbor when it opens in 2003. Carnival Cruises, which will be taking its place next to the Queen Mary shortly, the Queen Mary, the Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village, the Long Beach Convention Center, Pine Ave. and CityPlace -- all will be connected by the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. No other community in Southern California can offer the combination of venues that will be located on our waterfront once the Pike is complete."
City Manager Henry Taboada was quoted as saying:
"Mayor Beverly O'Neill and members of the City Council are to be praised for their continued support of the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. Now that all of the approvals are in place, the City will proceed immediately to a close-of-escrow on the ground lease that will allow DDR to begin construction of the long-awaited 370,000 square foot development. Today is a truly significant day for Long Beach."
Outside City Hall, opinions were 180 degrees reversed:
Diana Mann
"...This is a very, very, very sad moment...Governor Davis has signed the [document approving the land swap that facilitates] the Queensway Bay project. So here we are. Are we going to fight? Are we going to go away? Are we going to shrink back? And I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going away...There's a very famous speech that Winston Churchill made, and his speech was, "Never, never, never give up."
...Bry Myown
"...[The City Manager is] doing whatever he wants to. He's doing it with the blessing of the City Council. He's doing it with the blessing of Governor Gray Davis. And they're doing this because...they have no respect for the California coastline and they have no respect for the people of California.
What's most significant to me about this is that in order to approve the land transfer, the State Lands Commission had to make a finding that the land in question was no longer suitable for the purposes that the State Lands Commission controls. In other words, the coastline is held in sovereign trust so that people can use the beach and so it's available for commerce, navigation and fisheries.
And once they [the City] paved it over, which they charged you $30 million to do, and failed to build the park that they promised, guess what: it became useless for the purpose of coastline and that's why it's now being turned into [this] development.
The City of Long Beach keeps demonstrating that if you blight something badly enough, it's profitable to rebuild for whatever your developer friends want to do. And I don't want to let them do that to our coast. This is not over."
[Editor's note: After Sacramento passed legislation enabling the City and State Lands Commission to re-do a tidelands land swap, the City agreed to accept Tidelands restrictions on different land which was (again) unlikely to be developed, including park areas at Colorado Lagoon, Marine Stadium Channel and part of Bixby Park (frontage south of Ocean Blvd.) in exchange for freeing the entire DDR leased parcel (not just a few footprints) from Tidelands restrictions. That Council vote to do so came in June 2011 8-0 (Garcia absent for entire meeting). LBREPORT.com reported the following at the time:]
(June 26, 2011) -- In an action that required the City of Long Beach to publicly acknowledge that prime downtown Tidelands property -- which the City had for roughly a century been legally required to protect for the public's Tidelands uses -- had become basically useless for Tidelands purposes, the Long Beach City Council voted 8-0 (Garcia absent for entire meeting) on June 21 to seek State Lands Commission approval to remove Tidelands Trust protection from the "Queensway Bay" (now "Pike @ Rainbow Harbor") development site.
The Council-sought action enables ordinary commercial development uses on what was once prime beachfront Tidelands area that Long Beach City Hall over the years replaced with landfill. The "land swap" removed Tidelands trust protections from those areas in exchange for the City accepting Tidelands protections on parts of Bixby Park, Colorado Lagoon and Marine stadium...that are already park land.
As part of the transaction, the Long Beach City Council agreed to a State Lands Commission finding [enacted by the agency two days later on June 23] that the "Pike @ Rainbow Harbor" development site -- once part of LB's namesake downtown beach -- had "been cut off from water access and no longer are in fact tidelands or submerged lands or navigable waterways and are relatively useless for public trust purposes."...
Councilwoman Rae Gabelich said that although she opposed what was done in the past, she believes what's proposed now serves the City's interests.
Vice Mayor Lowenthal said she "was one of the individuals who had great angst over the design of the Pike and what was proposed" and that she "was opposed to that particular design" but want to inhibit economic development of the site.
The Council vote to approve the transaction was 8-0 (Garcia absent for entire meeting).
To hear archival audio of this Council action, click here.
Through other City Hall development decisions, the ocean is today nearly invisible for pedestrians along parts of Long Beach's downtown Ocean Blvd.
