Long Beach Mayor Pitching George Lucas Museum On Downtown "On The Water" Locations...But Convention Ctr Parking Lot And QM Adjacent Sites Ruled Out By City's Draft Enviro Impact Report For Consideration As Pool Rebuild Sites

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(June 27, 2016, updated text 9:40 a.m.) -- Following an L.A. Times story indicating that Los Angeles and San Francisco city officials are pitching filmmaker George Lucas on locating his planned museum with them, an urbanist designer and well-connected supporter of Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Brian Ulaszewski, put a photo on his Facebook page (June 25) suggesting the surface parking lot next to the LB Convention Center.

Image on Brian Ulaszewski Facebook page

By that time, Mayor Garcia had already Tweeted the Lucas Museum (June 24) inviting them to discuss "a location in downtown LB on the water"...but the Belmont Pool draft EIR also nixes two QM Adjacent Sites

[Scroll down for further.]

A draft Environmental Impact Report that Long Beach city officials just completed circulating (June 16) for public comments prior to Planning Commission and City Council hearings, ruled out the site for consideration as an alternative location for another currently pending project: rebuilding the city's Belmont Plaza Pool.

[Draft EIR text, pp. 5-6 and 5-7] The "Elephant Lot" is an approximately 13-acre surface parking lot on the east side of the Long Beach Convention Center (LBCC). The site is bound by East Seaside Way to the north, East Shoreline Drive to the south and east, and convention center facilities to the west.
The site was considered because of its location in the Downtown area and proximity to existing public use areas, such as the LBCC, the Long Beach Arena and the Aquarium of the Pacific. However, Jehovah's Witness currently leases this parking lot site to accommodate parking demands during the annual convention at the LBCC. The lease expires in 2030 and requires 3,000 parking spaces in two different lots, currently the "Elephant Lot" provides over half of these parking spaces (1,915 spaces). Due to the existing lease, this alternative site is in conflict with Objective 3 [of the pool rebuild project], to minimize the time the public is without a permanent pool facility.
Further, any loss of parking for Jehovah's Witness or the LBCC would require additional mitigation. Special events, such as the annual Grand Prix of Long Beach, also use the parking lot for events and staging. This alternative site would not represent the highest and best land use for the area adjacent to the convention center, which should be reserved for convention or hotel uses. Although the proposed pool facility would be compatible with the scale and character of the Downtown area, the unique architecture of the proposed facility would compete with the LBCC and aquarium buildings, and, therefore, the proposed facility would no longer stand out as a signature design as it would at the proposed Project site (Objective 6).
In addition to not meeting Objectives 3 and 6, this site would not meet the other project objectives including: implementation of the land use goals of Planned Development PD-2 (regulations specific to the Belmont Pool and Pier) at the former site (Objective 9); provision of views to the ocean from inside the facility (Objective 12); and would not be directly accessible for pedestrian and/or bicycle users, therefore not serve these existing users (Objective 13). In addition, this implementation of the proposed Project on this alternative site would require a Local Coastal Program amendment, which would not be required at the Project site.
For the reasons stated above, the "Elephant Lot" site was rejected as a potential alternative site and was not considered further.

The same draft EIR also ruled out two Queen Mary adjacent sites:

The Harry Bridges Memorial Park is a 4.1 acre park located within the Tidelands on the Pier J waterfront at Queens Highway and Harbor Scenic Drive in the City of Long Beach. The site consists of turf, trees, and small facilities for outside events. The site was considered because it does not contain major structures and because of its location near existing public use areas such as the Queen Mary, the Long Beach Arena, and the Aquarium of the Pacific. However, the Harry Bridges Memorial Park was designated as part of the parkland mitigation for the development of the Aquarium of the Pacific and Rainbow Harbor to replace recreational open space in Shoreline Park funded under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act. Under Section 6(f)(3) of the LWCF Act, the Harry Bridges Memorial Park may not be converted to uses other than public outdoor recreation uses. For this protection to include the proposed Project's enclosed areas as an allowable use, a required petition to the Secretary of the Interior would be required. The petition process with the Secretary of the Interior was considered prohibitive due to the extended time, cost, and uncertain outcome.
Additionally, the Harry Bridges Memorial Park is 1.7 acres smaller than the proposed Project site and is not likely to be able to accommodate the required infrastructure for the proposed Project or be able to maintain or increase the amount of open space compared to the former Belmont pool facility (Objective 15)...
Currently, the site is used for special events booked through the Queen Mary and there is no public parking at the site. The lack of adequate dedicated parking would negatively impact the future use of the site for the pool facilities...
Therefore, for the reasons stated above, the Harry Bridges Memorial Park was rejected as a potential alternative site and was not considered further.
The Queen Mary Site encompasses 43 -acres of land located on the Pier J waterfront at the terminus of Queens Highway in the City of Long Beach. The site features the 1936 Queen Mary ocean liner, which is permanently moored and operates as a hotel and event center. The site also includes the Queen Mary Events Park, Sea Walk Village, adjacent Carnival Cruise Lines terminal, and associated parking areas.
This alternative site was considered because of its location near existing public use areas such as the Long Beach Arena and the Aquarium of the Pacific. However, the site is currently leased to a private operator and not under the City's control. The current lease expires in approximately 40 years, and therefore the site would not be available for the City's use without negotiating the lease and paying for the use of the site.
The length of the existing lease makes the site unavailable for years, which is in conflict with Objective 3, to minimize the time the public is without a permanent pool facility. Furthermore, the site already provides parking for the current uses (Queen Mary ocean liner, Queen Mary Events Park, Sea Walk Village, and the Carnival Cruise Lines terminal), and would require the need for additional parking for the proposed Project. Providing additional parking for this site would be a challenge due to the current uses already competing for adequate parking spaces...
For the reasons stated above, the Queen Mary site was rejected as a potential alternative site and was not considered further.

It's not immediately clear how Mayor Garcia proposes to reconcile these issues.

By way of context, via Shoreline Drive, the parking lot is (source: Mapquest.com) roughly 0.8 miles from the Aquarium and roughly 0.6 miles from the nearest Metro Blue Line transit station (Pacific/1st St.).

Although Mr. Ulaszewski's proposed location map includes an arrow pointing to the "Pacific Ocean," the parking lot is actually across the street from a downtown boat marina which sits on an artifically created bay blocked from open ocean access by the eastern extension of the Port of Long Beach and cargo cranes; the city's formerly longer beach begins just to the east of the location.

The site is also just across Ocean Blvd. from a newly opened high rise (one of the tallest in the city) with rental units and mixed uses in an area where parking is already scarce.

Unlike Los Angeles and some major cities, Long Beach's Mayor isn't the City's chief executive (the City Manager is) and doesn't have a policy-setting vote (a nine member City Council does subject to a Mayoral veto that six Councilmembers can override) although the Mayor [City Charter text] is "recognized as head of the City government for all ceremonial purposes [and] shall represent the City at large and utilize the office of Mayor to provide community leadership and as a focal point for the articulation of city-wide perspectives on municipal issues."

Mayor Garcia Tweeted to @lucasmuseum, "Hey, this is the Mayor of Long Beach. Would love to have you in Downtown LB on the water. Let's talk."

Image on Mayor Garcia Twitter feed