Community Development

Home » Community Development » Planning Bureau » Advance Planning » Downtown Shoreline (PD-6)

Downtown Shoreline (PD-6)

The Downtown Shoreline is a Shoreline for Everyone!
We welcome your participation and feedback to help shape the future of Downtown’s gateway to the waterfront. The Downtown Shoreline is a regional amenity that serves ALL Long Beach residents and visitors. We encourage your participation to have your voice heard.

Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan – Draft Vision Concept 

Take a look at the Draft Vision Concept for the Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan! This draft integrates community input gathered from the past two years including, but not limited to, online surveys, in-person workshops, pop-ups, and Community Roundtables. The last round of community engagement focused on reviewing the eight Big Ideas for Downtown Shoreline. The Big Ideas served as discussion prompts to think big about what is possible without constraints. This draft document narrows the Big Ideas into a preferred vision closer to what can be achieved while also reflecting community values and needs gathered from past outreach.


Provide your feedback online by Sunday, June 15, 2025!

Comments and questions regarding the Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan can also be submitted via email to DowntownPlan@longbeach.gov with the subject line “Downtown Shoreline Public Input.”


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.

Upcoming Events
  • Saturday, April 26 – Sunday, April 27, 2025 — Pop-up at Earth Day Teen Climate Fest: Hosted by the Aquarium of the Pacific: The event will feature displays, activities, and presentations with an emphasis on sustainability and environmental stewardship.
  • Saturday, May 10, 2025 — Pop-up at the Beach Streets West: Beach Streets embraces the active commuting lifestyle by opening the streets and transforming them into safe, open areas for people to bike, walk and explore their neighborhoods.

Stay Connected!
If you haven't done so already, sign up to be notified of upcoming meetings and project updates!

Project Background and Goals

The Downtown shoreline area serves as the threshold between Downtown Long Beach and the city’s waterfront and covers the coastal area south of Ocean Boulevard from Golden Shore Drive to Alamitos Avenue. This area is home to iconic residences, offices, hotels and restaurants set amid the city’s convention center, harbors, marinas, shoreline parks and beaches. As the Plan has not been updated since the 1970s, the vision planning process underway aims to create a community vision and guidelines for creation of a world-class waterfront that will serve as a global destination. The Vision Plan will provide a foundation for a future plan update process to take place beginning in 2025.
The City has identified initial goals for the Downtown Shoreline Vision that will be refined and expanded with input from the community during the visioning process, which include but are not limited to:
  1. Inclusive outreach that engages, educates and empowers the community.
  2. A process and plan that respects the needs and perspectives of existing and future residents.
  3. Creation of an attractive local, regional and global destination.
  4. A vision and plan that is economically feasible and fiscally sustainable.
  5. Explore opportunities for hospitality, recreation, housing growth and investment in greater Downtown Long Beach and its waterfront.
  6. Embrace sustainable development and adaptability to future climate and technological shifts.
  7. Modernize regulations, support the City’s housing goals, and conduct appropriate environmental review.

Downtown Shoreline Opportunities Lookbook

To complement and support the ongoing community visioning and engagement work the Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan Opportunities Lookbook has been developed to summarize the plan area history, and existing conditions of the area today related to land use, urban design and mobility today. The Lookbook can be viewed using the links below:

Past Community Outreach and Engagement

To gain a deeper understanding of local needs and ensure a community-centered approach, the City partnered with specialists, community-based organizations and neighborhood associations. A summary of the valuable insights and feedback received during these processes can be found in the following reports:

A key component of the City’s commitment to an inclusive planning process is the establishment of a Community Roundtable to represent the various interests in the plan area and provide input and guidance on visioning and design documents at key milestones.

The Roundtable will reflect and represent residents, business operators, workers, property owners, and other stakeholders. Its special focus will be on economic development and tourism, resiliency, equity, mobility, housing, recreation, and sustainability. The Roundtable members will assist the planning and design team by identifying priorities, opportunities, and constraints for the Downtown Shoreline; supporting the development of a comprehensive planning vision statement, providing feedback on vision design alternatives, and helping to solicit the participation of the broader community at key points in the process.
Community Roundtable #1

A key component of the City’s commitment to an inclusive planning process is the establishment of a Community Roundtable to represent the various interests in the plan area and provide input and guidance on visioning and design documents at key milestones.

The Roundtable will reflect and represent residents, business operators, workers, property owners, and other stakeholders. Its special focus will be on economic development and tourism, resiliency, equity, mobility, housing, recreation, and sustainability. The Roundtable members will assist the planning and design team by identifying priorities, opportunities, and constraints for the Downtown Shoreline; supporting the development of a comprehensive planning vision statement, providing feedback on vision design alternatives, and helping to solicit the participation of the broader community at key points in the process.

The first Community Roundtable meeting was held on November 9, 2023. View the meeting materials below: 

Community Roundtable #2

The second Community Roundtable meeting was held on January 24, 2024. In development of a comprehensive planning vision statement, the community roundtable provided input and guidance in the draft guiding principles and supporting aspirational statements.  The community roundtable provided feedback on priorities, opportunities, and constraints for each of the guiding principles and will assist in development of the vision design alternatives and solicit participation from the broader community.

View the meeting materials below: 

Community Roundtable #3

The third Community Roundtable meeting was held on June 15, 2024, as part of the Community Design Charrette. To think big about how the Downtown Shoreline area could be improved to meet community needs and values, the roundtable group was prompted to discuss eight Big Ideas that gave a snapshot of possibilities for the future of Downtown Shoreline. These eight Big Ideas illustrated the guiding principles and addressed the key themes differently across three geographical areas: East, West, and Central.

The eight Big Ideas were not design recommendations, but rather discussion prompts to tangibly envision a Downtown Shoreline with limited constraints. Feedback from these Big Ideas helped inform a preferred scenario in which a unified vision for the area is evaluated for feasibility and shared with the community prior to presenting a vision plan to Planning Commission and City Council.

View the meeting materials below:

 

We hosted the Community Design Charrette, an ideas exchange, that kicked off June 13th with a presentation at the Aquarium of the Pacific.  Throughout the series of events, interested stakeholders, the public and Downtown Shoreline planning team members engaged in educational and thought-provoking activities to help shape The Vision of Downtown Shoreline.

  • Thursday, June 13, 2024, at 6 p.m., Aquarium of the Pacific (100 Aquarium Way) 
    Kickoff event with an overview of planning efforts and charrette activities.
  • Friday, June 14, 2024, Studio One Eleven (245 E. 3rd St.)
    Small roundtable discussions (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on specific topics like environmental, economic, and youth and emerging adults-focused planning considerations.
  • Saturday, June 15, 2024, Studio One Eleven and other locations around the Shoreline area
    A day of community events starting at 9 a.m. with an "Everyone's Shoreline" roundtable discussion. Walk and bike tours and "open studio hours" throughout the afternoon and evening.
  • Thursday, July 18, 2024, City Council Chambers 
    The feedback provided throughout these events will be analyzed and presented to the Planning Commission on Thursday, July 18th at a study session during the Commission's regularly scheduled meeting at City Hall.

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 or provided a presentation with Q&A opportunities at the following events to provide more information on the efforts and receive feedback:

  • Black Everywhere – Friday, Nov. 25, 2023
  • Latinos in Action California – Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023
  • Northeast Village Neighborhood Association Community Open House – Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023
  • Promenade Neighborhood Association – Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023
  • Long Beach Forward and Libre Open House – Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023
  • Council District 1 Night at the Aquarium - Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023
  • DTLB Roller Disco - Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023
  • Taste of Downtown Waterfront - Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023
  • LA Design Fest - Friday, June 24, 2023
  • Beach Streets - Saturday, May 20, 2023
  • Victory Park Design Guidelines Open House - Saturday, May 20, 2023
  • Taste of Downtown – Wednesday and Thursday, August 14-15, 2024
  • Marine Advisory Commission – Thursday, October 10, 2024
  • The Pike Merchants Meeting – Thursday, October 24, 2024
  • Shoreline Village Local Business Outreach – Tuesday, November 12, 2024
  • Catalina Landing Local Business Outreach – Wednesday, December 4, 2024
  • Aquarium’s Teen Climate Council – Saturday, January 15, 2025
  • Aquarium’s Teen Science Cafe – Sunday, January 16, 2025

Contact

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

Planning Bureau

562.570.6194

411 W. Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90802

M: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
T: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
W: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
TH: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
F: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

The Planning and Zoning phone line is open Monday through Thursday during regular business hours and closes daily for lunch from Noon to 1:00 p.m. The Permit Center is closed daily for lunch from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

411 West Ocean Blvd., 3rd Floor

Long Beach, CA 90802

562.570.LBCD (5223)

Keep up With LBCD