TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute an agreement between the City of Long Beach, Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation, and Virginia Country Club, to make roadway improvements, construct an entryway arbor, and provide for additional parking along the portion of Virginia Road bounded on both sides by the Virginia Country Club.
(District 8)
DISCUSSION
The Rancho Los Cerritos (Rancho) Master Plan, approved by the City Council in 2002, seeks to enhance the visitor experience at the Rancho by removing historically inappropriate features from the historic museum site and using the entire site, not just the Rancho building, as the Museum. Removal of the large asphalt parking lot, added by the City of Long Beach (City) in the 1950s, is one of those features. To mitigate this loss, the plan recommends construction of an eight-space parking lot for staff use in the northeast corner of the property; however, due to area topography, estimated construction costs for this staff parking lot would exceed $180,000. Two years ago the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation (Foundation) approached the Virginia Country Club (Club) to discuss alternative solutions, and the Club agreed to provide eight parking spaces for Rancho use in parking lots currently existing on its property. This discussion led to further conversations between the two parties and the City on how to improve overall parking in the area, as well as how to improve the appearance of Virginia Road and adjacent landscaping.
Following two years of discussion and negotiation, the City, the Foundation, and the Club agreed to pursue roadway improvements, enhance signage, and create additional parking on Virginia Road. Each party assumed responsibility for specific improvements generally, as follows: The Foundation agreed to fund an entrYWay arbor on Virginia Road, north of Country Club Drive, that will include signage for the Rancho; the City agreed to rebuild the public roadbed leading to the Rancho; and the ...
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