Long Beach : Rezoning for Lower Density Gets Preliminary OK

The City Council this week gave preliminary approval to a major rezoning of many of Long Beach’s residential neighborhoods, carrying out previously approved policies lowering density limits.

The rezoning is in response to last year’s revisions in the land-use element of the General Plan, the city’s master planning document. Public complaints about the construction of unimaginative apartment buildings in longtime single- family or duplex neighborhoods spurred the downzoning, which reverses a 1970s move to increase density to encourage development.

The council withdrew six areas from the large rezoning package and slated them for public hearings after property owners complained that the rezoning caught them by surprise. Half of those areas were to be downzoned from R-2, which permits two units per lot, to R-1, which permits one unit per lot. Any changes made to the rezoning proposal as a result of the hearings would have to go before the Planning Commission as well as the City Council.

Rezoning of major thoroughfares, industrial and commercial areas is also scheduled for council review this year.