TITLE
Adopt resolution amending the City’s Local Coastal Program, an Element of the City’s General Plan (GPA 17-002), related to the boundaries and regulations for the Southeast Area Specific Plan;
DISCUSSION
On June 1, 2017, the Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on the Southeast Area Specific Plan (Specific Plan or SEASP) (Exhibit A - Specific Plan) and formally recommended the Specific Plan to the City Council for adoption (Exhibit B - Planning Commission staff report). The Planning Commission’s action is the culmination of over 13 years of study, community visioning and planning exercises, and exhaustive public and environmental review. The purpose of the update is to enhance the quality of life, improve the functionality and visual appearance of public and private improvements in the area, and provide an overall framework for resource protection, mobility, growth, and development for the southeast area of the City into the future.
Existing regulations for the SEADIP area (Exhibit C - PD-1 SEADIP) were adopted in 1977. In 2004, the Third District Los Cerritos Wetlands Study Group first recommended changes to this oldest planned development district in the City. In 2006, the City Council directed staff to update these regulations because they were no longer meeting the needs of Long Beach residents and property owners in terms of mobility, activity and amenities, land use, the need for employment and housing and, most importantly, of maintaining, restoring, and protecting our wetlands. The existing PD-1 is a set of restrictions and allowed uses but is not a plan in today’s understanding of that term. PD-1 contains no vision for the future and does not contemplate the redevelopment of sites that are now coming to the end of their physical and economic lives.
A new Specific Plan is required to bring regulations in the southeast part of the City into conformity with today’s vision for the area, to comply with State requirements for more compact mi...
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