Long Beach to require mixed-use housing projects on some streets

Long Beach will now encourage mixed-use housing developments along two stretches on the west side of town.

The City Council approved zone changes for mixed-use projects on the Santa Fe Avenue corridor between Pacific Coast Highway and Wardlow Road, and the Willow Street corridor west of the 710 freeway to the city limits, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.

The West Long Beach corridors had been under a development moratorium for nearly two years.

The plan approved by the city rezones specific parcels of land along the corridors to require new developments have both residential and commercial components. 

Some properties would be permitted to develop any combination of residential and commercial use. Others would be required to include a commercial component, largely at major intersections along both corridors.

The proposal is part of a larger city plan, dubbed Zone In, to revamp zoning regulations to help mold neighborhoods to the needs of the community. 

Two corridors in North Long Beach were rezoned as part of the plan in 2020 — and work on a similar effort in Central Long Beach are now underway.

Developments along the two West Long Beach corridors were initially put on hold in 2021 for one year to prevent them from being overbuilt with single-use buildings.

The city then pivoted to creating “neighborhood serving centers” stocked with mixed-use developments that would give residents quicker access to grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and other businesses historically lacking in the area.

“These neighborhoods are historically working-class due to their proximity to the Port of Long Beach, refineries and other industrial use areas in nearby Wilmington,” Councilman Roberto Uranga, who represents the Westside, said in a 2021 memo.

The city’s updated Land Use Element, which says which types of developments can be built in specific parts of the city, was adopted in 2019. But the zoning in the Santa Fe and Willow Corridors predated the new regulations, and didn’t allow for mixed-use development.

So the city passed the new zoning rules after its moratorium, which was extended for another year to allow the city’s Development Services Department to determine the best zoning for the area.

“Without a moratorium, out-of-character development could be permitted that would result in stand-alone single-use residential structures,” Uranga’s 2021 memo said, “forestalling the ability to create walkable mixed-use neighborhoods.”

— Dana Bartholomew