TITLE
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Section 21.21.406, relating to the extension of the expiration date for certain subdivision and entitlement approvals and modifying the expiration period for future approvals, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On March 4, 2020, the City of Long Beach (City) declared a public emergency related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus among Long Beach residents. The worldwide pandemic related to the virus is an ongoing public health concern being addressed at all levels of government. On March 17, 2020, the City Council directed staff to develop resiliency measures to assist the City, its residents, and businesses in returning to normal life and economic vitality once the emergency has abated. This item, to extend existing land-use entitlements, was approved unanimously by the Planning Commission on April 16, 2020. As part of this approval, the Planning Commission made the appropriate findings, identified in Attachment A.
The recommendations by staff and the Planning Commission are to:
1) Extend the expiration date of all certificates of appropriateness, tract maps, lot line adjustments, entitlements, and other approvals, not expired on January 1, 2020, by 24 months; and,
2) Modify the entitlement expiration time for all new certificates of appropriateness, tract maps, lot line adjustments, entitlements, and other approvals to a uniform 36-month duration.
Upon City Council’s direction, Development Services staff immediately implemented other economic resilience measures that do not require the approval of the Planning Commission or the City Council, such as facilitating electronic entitlement submittals and plan check review, payment deferral options for entitlement filing, and abeyance of certain non-critical code enforcement actions. All of these measures are intended to promote economic investment and activity through procedural and other regulatory rel...
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