Residents give mixed reviews for new plans for Long Beach's southeastern corridor

Long Beach residents got their first detailed look Saturday at a plaed overhaul for the city’s southeast coer, an area that includes housing, shopping centers, oil fields and wetlands.

The proposed changes to a decades-old zoning plan, which would guide development in the 1,500-acre area over the next 50 years, were received with skepticism by some residents.

While some liked elements of the plan, such as improved bike paths and restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, others said they feared an increase in the southeast area’s population density would gridlock traffic and cause other headaches.

Christopher Koontz, an advance plaing officer with the city, was on hand with other city officials and project consultants at an open house Saturday, where residents could see the plan in full and ask questions.

City perspective

Koontz said he sympathized with residents’ conces and that the document was the product of about two years of plaing, analysis and public input.

“I heard everything on the spectrum,” from cheers to criticism, he said. “The number one conce was traffic.”

Despite fears, many of those who saw the plan seemed to like the proposals for new ways to use the current SeaPort Marina Hotel, improved landscaping and new shopping options, Koontz said. The public will have ample opportunities to give their input and voice conces in the coming months.

“Nothing is set in stone,” he said. “We’re taking public Idea through April. In May or June, we’ll [start the environmental review], and then we’ll start the [Plaing Commission and City Council] hearing process.”

What’s in the plan

The Southeast Area Specific Plan, or SEASP, is roughly bounded by Seventh Street, Marine Stadium and the Orange County border. It’s an overhaul of a plan originally passed in 1977 and will guide future development, mobility plaing, environmental restoration and other land use through 2060.

The City Council ordered a new master plan in December 2012 after proposals for developing SeaPort Marina Hotel were tued away for the third time.

A full breakdown of the plan, including maps, zoning boundaries, comment forms and a project timeline, can be found on Long Beach Development Service’s website , but its basic tenets are:

• Create mixed-use areas, including a walkable community and activity center

• Allow multi-story buildings up to seven stories in some areas if a project contains community benefits and a hotel

Advertisement

• Permanently protect 59 acres of wetlands previously approved for development as coastal habitat, wetlands and recreation areas

• Set aside buffer areas between wetlands and developed zones

• Create balance between automobile traffic and alteate transportation, such as walking, bicycling or public transit

Residents’ conces

The most repeated conce Saturday moing was how the increase in density — the old plan envisioned 5,443 housing units while the new calls for 9,518 — will impact the area which has only a few major roadways and lies near the interchange of the 405, 22 and 605 freeways.

Others were worried that allowing taller buildings would harm migrating birds and that increased infrastructure upkeep costs could lead to higher taxes.

Jeff Severson — a Long Beach resident, Wilson High School graduate and retired NFL player who started with the Washington Redskins in the 1973 Super Bowl against the Miami Dolphins — said he was foremost conceed with having a smart plaing document that could preserve the area’s integrity while not hamstringing future development.

“I’m for good plaing,” Severson said. “We’ve been sitting on our hands for so long.”

Jan Hall, a former Long Beach councilwoman who chaired the original Southeast Area Development and Improvement Plan Committee, agreed traffic, costs to taxpayers and building height limits may be problematic but liked the plan’s extension of bicycle paths and consideration of impacts to the Los Cerritos Wetlands.

Ultimately, Hall hopes the final version of the plan will preserve what makes Long Beach unique.

“I don’t want to live in Hermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach,” she said. “I want to live in Long Beach.”