Process To Take Years; Call For Moratorium On Development Withdrawn

By Sean Belk - Staff Writer

February 14, 2012 - Revising a more than 30-year-old land use document known as the South East Area Development and Improvement Plan (SEADIP), which sets guidelines along coastal Southeastern Long Beach, will take one to two years. That’s according to city staff, who are in the process of figuring out a timeline of events and how to fund the undertaking.

The rezone is being pushed in hopes of resolving years of discontent over the second+pch proposed development at 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway on a nearly 11-acre site currently occupied by a hotel. Nearby residents and wetlands preservationists have fought to maintain the current zoning in place. But the property owner has indicated the current restrictions wouldn’t allow for a sufficient return on investment.

Two proposals brought forward to redevelop the aging Seaport Marina Hotel site have been scrapped so far. The latest was a $320 million proposal that the Long Beach City Council voted down, 5-3, in late December after more than four years of planning and $4.5 million in expenses paid by the property owner.

The mixed-use project would have included a 12-story high-rise residential and part hotel building, which did not conformity with SEADIP, the state-approved coastal ordinance that currently limits all building heights to only 35 feet and disallows residential use.

To allow the project to move forward, the developer attempted to have the project approved through a SEADIP amendment instead of revising the land use zone through a collaborative community process, a practice often called “spot zoning.”

The Long Beach Planning Commission had previously approved the plan, on a 4-3 vote, along with an accompanying environmental impact report. In fact, for months the city’s planning staff had no objections to the plan.

But just days before the December city council meeting, the California Coastal Commission, which regulates all coastal development, sent a letter to City Hall, indicating that it would not approve the project as proposed and requested the city update SEADIP instead. Thus, the city council, on December 20, ended up not going along with the developer’s plans and scrapped the project.

Instead, councilmembers asked city staff to report back in 60 days on how to update SEADIP, a move which has been proposed three previous times but lacked sufficient funding.

During the February 7 city council meeting, Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell proposed an item to “accelerate” the process and to have it done in six months. But Assistant City Manager Suzanne Frick said the revision process is expected to take at least a year to two years to complete.

Updating SEADIP will include first securing the needed $1 million funding for the process. City staff is expected to explore the best potential funding sources, including: applying for a sustainable communities planning grant funded by Proposition 84; tidelands funding, using oil revenue; or the potential for private funding from Lyon Communities, which owns an adjacent parcel in the SEADIP area, and that offered to front the money.

After that, city staff is expected to request whether to use an independent project consultant to manage the process. Then, there are several technical studies that need to be completed, including wetlands delineation and a habitat survey.

The city would most likely establish a citizens advisory committee, made up of area stakeholders, potentially including developers, property owners, business community members, residents, environmentalists, boat owners and others.

“We view this area not as a single council district but rather it is a community asset, it involves the wetlands, it has some very prominent properties and it really does rise to the level of significant public involvement,” Frick said.

After some sort of compromise is made to establish new guidelines of SEADIP, an environmental impact report would need to be drafted and approved by the planning commission and city council. The final report would also have to be approved by the coastal commission.

After all that is completed, developers would be able to propose a new project that conforms to the updated zone.

In the meantime, O’Donnell had originally requested a moratorium on all development that proposes to amend SEADIP during the update process, while allowing projects that conform to the current zoning to move forward. But that request was withdrawn. Instead, the city council basically reapproved direction given during the December 20 meeting and other considerations.