Long Beach : New Belmont Parking Rules

Business owners in Belmont Shore and Bixby Knolls planning to expand their shops will have to provide parking spaces or pay about $20,000 for each parking spot needed under new regulations approved Tuesday by the City Council.

The zoning changes, pending final council approval next week, include mandating in-lieu parking fees for businesses planning to expand but unable to provide the parking spaces. That would translate to about $20,000 per space, according to Robert J. Paternoster, the city’s planning and building director.

Areas most affected by the changes will be those along the Belmont Shore strip and the Bixby Knolls shopping district, Paternoster said. Stores expecting to expand in those locations must provide two parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants must provide five spaces for every 1,000 square feet, Paternoster said.

The changes were recommended by the city’s Planning Commission and the Belmont Shore Board of Parking Place Commissioners.

Other suggestions by the Belmont parking commissioners not adopted but still under consideration include establishing assessment districts to pay for new parking lots. The commissioners recommended the city acquire between 15 to 32 lots to provide 135 additional parking spaces.