Thoughts, Suggestions For New SEADIP Wanted In City Survey

By Kurt Helin
Editor

What should be done with the very southeast portion of Long Beach? Wetlands restoration? Any development? What about fixing up existing developments such as the SeaPort Marina Hotel land? And how do you deal with the traffic issues?

These questions have proven very divisive over the last few years, as projects such as the proposed Home Depot and SeaPort plans tried to move forward, and as some of the Los Cerritos Wetlands property was sold.

Now, the city is reaching out with a survey to see what nearby residents (and people citywide) want to see in that area. The survey is online and city officials also are going to numerous neighborhood and business groups to pass out the survey (including the Belmont Shore Residents Association on Feb. 14).

“There’s already zoning in place on a lot of that land,” said Angela Reynolds, the city planning officer overseeing the survey. “But the plan is 30 years old and times and technology have changed. Do we need to change the plan? That’s what we’re asking.”

That plan is the South East Area Development and Improvement Plan, commonly called SEADIP.

SEADIP provides zoning guides for the southeast area of Long Beach, basically surrounding Pacific Coast Highway from the Orange County border up to Loynes Avenue (including Los Cerritos Wetlands and surrounding areas).

Recent projects in that area have been controversial. But so was an attempt to revisit the plan itself.

Third District Councilman Gary DeLong formed a nine-person committee that conducted meetings and came up with a series of suggestions to update SEADIP.

But environmental and other groups wanted a more open process and a blank slate to start from with re-envisioning SEADIP, saying that DeLong’s group was not representative. Eventually the City Council agreed with them.

Last August, the City Council voted to take a fresh look at SEADIP, giving the city’s Planning Department the go-ahead to move forward with a survey of the residents, and to bring those results and maybe some options back to the council.

During February and March, Reynolds and her staff are doing the outreach for the survey.

“We’re not going to do any specific plan, we’re just doing the outreach,” Reynolds said. “It’s a starting point. We’re not even trying to presuppose we’re going to do anything with SEADIP.”

At the heart of SEADIP issues is the Los Cerritos Wetlands and long-term plans to restore it. While nearly everyone from elected officials to environmental groups say they want to see the wetlands restored, differences in what should be considered degraded wetlands and what, if anything, should go next to the wetlands has led to very divisive debates.

Reynolds pointed to the “pumpkin patch” land next to the Marketplace as an example. Some people list that as degraded wetlands that should never have development on it, while others see it as a prime property for development not impacting the core of the wetlands.

The goal of the survey is to find out what people really want on that and other land, she said.

The survey asks a number of questions: What are the top priorities for the area, preserving open space or attracting high quality retail? What are the biggest problems with traffic in the area and how can they be improved? What kind of accommodations should be seen in the area? What other steps to improve the area should be taken?

The survey can be taken online at www.longbeach.gov/-plan. Just click on the SEADIP link.

Also, paper surveys are being passed out as Planning Department officials fan out to various meetings and ask people to become involved. Those can be turned in as well.