'
Oct 19 Planning Comm'n Meeting @ Wrigley's Vets Park Will Consider Approving 95 Unit <nobr>Very-Low</nobr> And <nobr>Low-Income</nobr> Development, 1900-1940 LB Blvd.; City Staff Memo Explains Sac'to Dictated Developer Density Approval Bonuses/Incentives; No Detailed Project Impact Review Due To June 2016 Council OK'd Midtown Specific Plan "Programmatic EIR"
'
LBReport.com
News / Advisory
Oct 19 Planning Comm'n Meeting @ Wrigley's Vets Park Will Consider Approving 95 Very-Low And Low-Income Units In Five Story "Mixed Use" Project, 1900-1940 LB Blvd.; City Staff Memo Explains Sac'to Dictated Developer Density Approval Bonuses/Incentives; No Detailed Project Impact Review Due To June 2016 Council OK'd Midtown Specific Plan "Programmatic EIR"
LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. Support independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.
(Oct. 19, 2017, 2:05 p.m.) -- An item at tonight's (Oct. 19) LB Planning Commission meeting -- which will be held at Veterans Park, 101 E. 28th St. in Wrigley at 5 p.m. (instead of City Hall) -- may be of interest beyond its local neighborhood impacts. It demonstrates how city staff can, and in some cases must, apply Sacramento-enacted laws to approve a developer-sought five-story "mixed use" development at 1900-1940 LB Blvd. (commercial uses on ground floor with residences above) containing 95 residential units comprised of 47 very-low-income and 47 low-income units plus one manager unit.
City staff's memo notes that it applies "density bonus" and "incentives" or concessions as "ministerial" (clerk approved) actions and explains on memo page 5 that under Sac'to enacted laws, they must be allowed.
The project is alongside Metro's Blue Line basically a block north of PCH. The developer proposes to offer 140 parking spaces, comprised of 115 (of which 29 are tandem/two car spaces assigned to the same residential unit) plus 25 others. Staff says the 140 total exceeds 74 "required" parking spaces based on the developer seeking to apply Sac'to allowed unit/parking ratios in CA Gov't Code section 65915(p)(3).)
[Scroll down for further.]
The developer and city staff are able to avoid individual environmental review of the proposed project's impacts because the City Council voted on May 24, 2016 (motion by Gonzalez, second by Andrews, 8-0, Price absent) to certify a "programmatic EIR" for the "Midtown Specific Plan" (the area in which the project is located), which dispenses with future discussion of most impacts of future large proposed projects. Two weeks later, the Council went on to approve the "Midtown Specific Plan" in two votes on June 14, 2016 (motion by Gonzalez, second by Andrews, 8-0, Lowenthal absent.)
Sponsor
Sponsor
.
The Oct. 19 Planning Commission agendized project was among those cited in a May 2017 public event, prepared and staged by LB Mayor Robert Garcia's office titled "Building a Better Long Beach" whose PPT slides described the project as an "affordable housing development" with 95 units "reserved for individuals with special needs."
Tonight's Planning Commission meeting is one of the first high visibility items for Planning Commission member Josh LaFarga, who moved from Los Angeles into Long Beach in or about late May 2017 (purchased a home in NLB) and in mid-July was appointed (nominated) by Mayor Garcia to sit on LB's Planning Commission. (The City Council approved the Mayor's choice without dissent.) Commissioner LaFarga, who filled a vacancy created by the abrupt resignation of Planning Commission chair Van Horik, holds a leadership position in "Laborers Plaster and Tenders" Union ("LiUNA!") Local 1309, whose PAC has made a number of LB-related campaign and officeholder account monetary contributions:
Jeannine Pearce for City Council 2016: $800 ($400 primary + $400 runoff)
Write-In Dee Andrews -- Long Beach City Council 2016: $400
Mayor Robert Garcia "officeholder account": $1,000 (May 2016)
Lena Gonzalez for City Council 2014:"officeholder Account": $750 (Aug. 2016)
The union's PAC also gave a $40,000 campaign contribution in May 2016 to the "Mayor Garcia, Foster & O'Neill Committee to Support Measures A & B..." (Mayor/Council sought sales tax increase/"budget stabilization" measures, June 2016 ballot)
Sponsor
On July 18, Mayor Garcia's Chief of Staff emailed the following statement to LBREPORT.com regarding the Mayor's choice of Mr. LaFarga for the Planning Commission: "Mr. La Farga recently became a homeowner and now lives in Long Beach's 9th District. He has been actively working in Long Beach for many years as a leader in the building trades which makes him a strong candidate for this appointment."
