Community Development

Downtown Plan Update (PD-30)


Downtown Long Beach is a dynamic live, work, play environment, and over the last ten years since the adoption of the Downtown Plan, it has yielded more than 5,000 approved housing units, a new civic center, pedestrian, retail and other improvements; and has been the planning tool behind the majority of the city’s development in the past decade. View the 2022 Year in Review Downtown Plan Update.


PROJECT AREA

The Downtown Plan encompasses the downtown area roughly bounded by the LA River to the west, Alamitos Avenue to the east, Anaheim Street to the north and Ocean Boulevard to the south.

PROJECT GOALS

For this update, the City has seven primary goals, these include:

  1. Promote investment and housing growth, with a focus on affordable housing and preventing displacement.
  2. Modernize regulations to comply with the State's design standard requirements.
  3. Streamline California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance.
  4. Align the Downtown Plan with recent policy changes in the Land Use Element (LUE), Housing Element and other city planning efforts.
  5. Adopt a Specific Plan consistent with State law, standards and best practices.
  6. Provide regulations suitable for the smaller or irregular land use sites within Downtown.
  7. Create development regulations that are specific to Downtown, comprehensive, easy to administer and understandable by the public.

Planning staff is currently in the preliminary stages of reviewing the existing plan, analyzing issues and opportunities, considering the historical context and existing conditions, evaluating the Downtown Plan’s impact over the past 10 years, and devising strategies for most effectively updating the plan for the next decade or decades of growth, complying with state law and improving the implementation of the plan for the future.

Get Involved!

The City of Long Beach is committed to a comprehensive and inclusive planning process, guided by extensive community outreach and public participation. A variety of online and in-person outreach activities will be used to make public involvement accessible to as many community members and stakeholders as possible.

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Past Events

We hosted a joint open house for the Long Beach Downtown Plan Update and Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan on Saturday Sept. 9, 2023. View the Open House presentation video and boards below!

Those who were not able to attend the event are invited to provide input by completing our Feedback Form

We look forward to your participation!

In addition to the Community Open House, staff hosted pop-up booths at the following events to provide more information on the efforts and receive feedback:

  • DTLB Roller Disco - Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023
  • Centro CHA Back to School Event at Drake Park - Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023
  • Beach Streets - Sautrday, May 20, 2023


Contact

For more information or questions related to the Downtown Plan Update, contact us by email at DowntownPlan@longbeach.gov or by phone at 562.570.6194.