TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the City Attorney to prepare and present to the City Council an Ordinance amending Section 10.30.080 of the Long Beach Municipal Code to permit the closing of the Boathouse Lane parking lot from one hour after sunset until 8:00 A.M. daily, instead of the current hours of closing from 10:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M. daily.
DISCUSSION
Boathouse Lane operates as an access road to the Long Beach Rowing Center parking lot and leads to a dead end. This small roadway runs parallel to the Spinnaker Bay residential neighborhood and is a growing source of public safety concern for the City and nearby residents. These concerns are due to the operational hours currently allowing vehicular access until 10:00 P.M. nightly, far beyond what is consistent with other coastal areas in the City, including Marine Stadium, which are posted as closing “one hour after dusk”. The current 10:00 P.M. closure was adopted by the City Council in 1994, despite a Coastal Commission agreement allowing for the closure of Boathouse Lane to be consistent with Marine Stadium, which is located immediately across the water. It is unknown why this roadway was treated differently at that time, but the situation needs to be remedied to reflect consistency in light of the current usage of the area.
Specifically, due to the late-night vehicular access there are frequent issues of nuisance and illicit activities, as well as reckless driving and exhibitions of speed. The use of this access point to congregate in the Long Beach Rowing Center’s parking lot after hours, and engage in underage drinking, drug use, racing, reckless driving, and other nuisance and dangerous activities is a significant resident frustration leading to increased calls for service to the Long Beach Police Department with reports of corroborated public safety concerns. Most recently, several incidents of felony conduct were reported in the area and subsequent investigations of the inc...
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