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Blunt Push Back From Wrigley Residents, Modest Push-Back From Some (Not All) Councilmembers, No Push-Back From ELB Residents At Council Study Session On Proposed Density-Inviting Re-Write Of Land Uses Citywide


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(June 14, 2017) -- There was blunt push-back from Wrigley residents, modestly framed push-back from some (but not all) Councilmembers, and no audible push-back from any ELB residents, at a June 13, the City Council held a study session on city staff's proposed rewrite of the City's Land Use Element (LUE) of the City's General Plan that proposes density and housing increases in varying intensities in various parts of Long Beach.

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City staff's proposed Land Use Element (LUE) rewrite changes the way City Hall classifies land uses citywide, replacing specific neighborhood designations to govern development with citywide fungible "Placetypes." The "Placetypes" and allowed developments within them can be found on p. 65 of the proposed Land Use Element, and are illustrated on at pp. 66 and 67, with height limits on pp. 68 and 69. Strategies proposed to implement these changes in LB neighborhoods are described on pp. 140-163.

To see heights and land uses proposed by city staff for portions of each Council district, use the links below:

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The study session began shortly after 4 p.m. with a city staff presentation by Development Service Dept. Advance Planning Officer Christopher Koontz. With accompanying Power Point slides, Mr. Koontz said state law requires periodic updating of the City's General Plan, and its Land Use Element hasn't been changed since 1989, before the Metro Blue Line, before the Aquarium and before the density-intense "Downtown Plan." City staff's proposed update focuses on encouraging the development of increased housing and creating jobs, looking ahead to likely employment venues to 2040, he said.

Mr. Koontz said that apart from Downtown Long Beach and LB Blvd., buildings heights elsewhere in Long Beach are "severely restricted" and have held back "potential investment and job creation." He said the proposed new LUE offers opportunities for growth by allowing increased height, and said developers find it hard to spread costs over two stories and prefer three story projects (or higher) that allow spreading their fixed costs over mixed uses. Mr. Koontz said strip malls have outlived their usefulness and building housing close to transportation offers residents more choices than driving. He said the new LUE aims to transform corridors to provide a mix of use uses for goods, services and housing, and reinforce transit opportunities; if goods and services are available nearby, people will walk, he said.

Mr. Koontz said the new LUE offers increased residential and commercial densities to invite market-based, economic decisions by landowners to "turn over" and redevelop their properties that enable higher and better uses than on their properties at present. This includes allowing combining residential uses and commercial uses ("mixed uses.")

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Regarding parking, Mr. Koontz said (replying to a question from Councilwoman Price about increased residential heights proposed in parts of her 3rd district) that older residences were built without adequate parking, and Council actions from the late 1980s and early 1990s further reduced allowable heights which had the effect of reducing incentives to redevelop current buildings with new higher buildings that could enable more parking. [Ed. comment: the 1990s down zoning came after 1980s actions by Councils that allowed "crackerbox" apartment density without adequate parking.]

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Among City Councilmember comments:

  • Councilwoman Price: Says community discussion of the proposed LUE is "active" and she looks forward to the Planning Commission's process [prior to the LUE coming to the Council for a decision] but says based on what she's seen: "I know there's some recommendations that I'll be making that are supportive of staff's recommendations and others that may not be completely in line with staff's recommendations but are conducive to the requests and the desires of my community."

  • Councilman Uranga: Believes Council should hold another study session before voted enactment, and says the study session should be a separate date from the Council enactment vote. Councilman Uranga inquires about "Transit Oriented Developments" in plan. Mr. Koontz replies that state law favors locating development proximate to fixed transit locations, typically a rail station, and those are primarily downtown and along Metro Blue Line; the plan favors walking distance to transit close to employment centers and more intense mixed uses including residential units. Councilman Uranga asks if that density could apply to other corridors? Koontz says Transit Oriented Developments only include bus corridors if they have multiple high frequency bus service (not just bus stops.) Councilman Uranga says parts of his 7th district already have air quality issues, asks if there is some way we can "even-this-out where one part of city doesn't get full brunt of increased growth in one section of city?" Mr. Koontz replies that although other areas don't have fixed transit and thus don't have TODs, they are slated for increased housing and employment growth in the new LUE. [Wrigley's other area rep Andrews is absent for study session and subsequent Council meeting.]

  • Councilman Supernaw Says if density is increased, parking has to improve, not stay the same. Indicates that his watchword on the proposed LUE is "parking."
    Councilwoman Pearce:: Says 7th St. needs more TLC; Mr. Koontz says 7th St. is an area slated for new and increased development.

  • Vice Mayor Richardson: Says that the way we build now is infill and building up (higher), and says City has to figure out how to do it in a way "that makes residents comfortable with it...there's still a lot of hesitation about Not In My Backyard, that just has to change in order for us to grow and thrive as a city."

  • Councilwoman Mungo: Asks why city staff chose three stories (for areas such as the Spring/Palo Verde "Plaza" quadrants); Mr. Koontz replies that it provides flexibility for future development; Councilwoman Mungo voices no opposition in response.

No Councilmember raised issues of providing increased police and fire service levels for taxpayers to keep up with increased population and commercial densities proposed in the new LUE.

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In public testimony, five Wrigley residents (including Lee Fukui and Mona Eichner) testified in opposition to increased density in their area. They cited examples, including part of the LUE that would allow five story commercial buildings next to a residential neighborhood. Wrigley residents said their area is already facing multiple challenges and impacts. Magnolia Industrial Group rep Annie Greenfeld Wisner said the group objects to changes in zoning. Fifth district resident Raman Vasishth spoke to a number of issues but doesn't voice opposition to parts of proposed LUE.

On June 9, LBREPORT.com asked Mr. Koontz about verbiage in the "Founding and Contemporary Neighborhoods" Placetype [basic residential area in the large ELB residential neighborhood, also applies to many areas elsewhere] that indicates residential density from 7 dwelling units per acre to 18 dwelling units per acre. (For a rough idea of what 18 dwelling units per acre might look like, consider that the controversial "Riverwalk" residential development (allowed by the Council on the former Will J. Reid scout park site) sought only roughly 13 dwelling units per acre and the Crown Point development built in the late 1970s in the 7th district near Los Cerritos Park allowed a bit over 14 dwelling units per acre.) The text narrative describing the "Founding and Contemporary Neighborhood" PlaceType likewise invites density by proposing "appropriately scaled multi-family structures" at "neighborhood edges, transitions and key intersections..." [LUE, p. 75]

Mr. Koontz replied that the absolute maximum in the Founding and Contemporary Neighborhoods PlaceType is 18 dwelling units per acre, and the "vast, vast, vast [reiterates it three times for emphasis] majority of existing single family neighborhoods will remain as they are today. In the event new land comes available, such as a school or church closing, and it is developed as single family, the land use element would guide that future development. These could be traditional single family homes, traditional homes on small lot, row homes or duplexes. They would not include "condos" as those are typically understood because this placetype is not intended to include stacked or "multifamily" buildings." Mr. Koontz cited the new , Urban Design Element, pp. 49-51 of its pdf (numbered pages 41-43) in showing the different types of single family and duplex residences that could be developed in the future. pp. 49-51 of the PDF (numbered pages 41-43 in the document. The Urban Design Element is an entirely new land use planning document that applies various design standards within the Land Use Element Placetypes. Staff calls the UDE "critical because it addresses how different Placetypes meet at edges and how streets can serve as transitions. Using the UDE staff will be able to create new zones to implement the LUE placetypes and ensure adequate transitions, privacy, setbacks and stepback between more and less intensive development.

The Council's study session on the LUE ended at about 5:35 p.m.; the next scheduled step is a Planning Commission study session (no voted action) on the LUE on Thurs. June 15, 5 p.m. at City Hall.

Regardless of the Planning Commission's ultimate voted recommendations, a City Council majority (five votes subject to a Mayoral veto that six Councilmembers can override) has ultimate control over what uses and densities to allow, and where, in the revised Land Use Element.



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