Long Beach’s Plan to Build Theaters Along Water OKd

The state Lands Commission on Monday removed the final government snag facing Long Beach’s plans for a waterfront renaissance.

The state panel voted to allow construction of a 16-screen theater on public tideland as part of the Queensway Bay Project, a $100-million retail-entertainment complex along the city’s downtown coastline. In exchange, the state will get land close to the Los Angeles River in Long Beach.

The 3-0 vote came after several hours of public comment by a dozen speakers, including city leaders and opponents of Queensway Bay.

First proposed in 1992, the project is envisioned as a way to attract visitors to its once-beleaguered downtown. The Aquarium of the Pacific, which is 2 years old, is the most visible part of the project already built but is virtually alone there. The theaters are considered to be the anchor needed for Queensway Bay’s retail component.

At issue Monday was a three-acre parcel that for decades has been a paved parking lot used by the Long Beach Convention Center. The city owns it, but the state Lands Commission--Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, state Controller Kathleen Connell and state Director of Finance Tim Gage--governs it because tidewaters touched it within the last half a century. Law dictates that such land have a water- or recreation-related use for the public.

As part of the bargain, the state will get 10 acres east of the Los Angeles River and west of Golden Avenue to keep as open space.

Paul Thayer, the commission’s executive officer, said the swap was a good deal for the state because it would get land in exchange that was valued at $500,000 more than the Queensway Bay parcel.

But environmentalists argued that the state was making a bad bargain because there was no public access to the river land and that it was not suitable for recreation now.

“There is no point in getting land that we can’t use,” said Ann Cantrell, secretary-treasurer of the Los Cerritos Wetland Task Force.

City officials said they intended to develop it as a recreation area and possibly build a pedestrian bridge to it. Thayer stressed that the commission’s action did not set a precedent; similar swaps occur a few times a year in the state.

“This project has been the final touch and the final attraction that was going to help bring visitors to the aquarium,” Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill said. “And all the things that take years to accumulate are in place now, and . . . this area that has been so desolate for so long, except for the waterfront area right at the shoreline, needs to have some type of development for the city.”

Several critics of the swap argued that it would break a pact with Long Beach residents who were promised years ago that the Queensway land would be used for parks.

“What you have before you is a spectacularly bad deal both for the state and the citizens of Long Beach,” said Don May, president of a group called California Earth Corps.

The commission approved a condition that the acres revert back to the state if the project is not underway by May 31, 2002. A lawyer for the developer said construction is expected to begin in December.