The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday paved the way for breweries and granny flats to more easily enter Long Beach by approving two regulatory amendments in the city’s local coastal program.
The requested amendments derived from prior legislation sought by the City Council in previous years.
One revision sought to address regulations surrounding alcoholic beverage manufacturers, particularly the number of parking spots required within commercial zones, and the other was aimed at parking and lot size requirements necessary for accessory dwelling units, more commonly referred to as “granny flats” to be built within the coastal zone.
The coastal zone includes the Downtown waterfront, southeast Long Beach and the areas between those two points that is located south of Broadway. Both amendments were accepted but required the city to adhere to recommendations made by Coastal Commission staff.
Long Beach Amends Requirements for Alcohol Production, Tasting Rooms in City
One change was made to the alcoholic beverage manufacturing item which was a slight revision to the office-floor area that would trigger required parking for an alcohol beverage manufacturing facility.
The Coastal Commission accepted the city’s proposals to not require parking for production facilities and to lower the number of spaces for tasting rooms to 10 spaces for every 1,000 square feet. The city’s ordinance was first voted on in late 2016 as the City Council continued a push to try and open the city up to additional breweries and tasting rooms.
The changes made by the commission to the granny flat exemptions include eliminating the city’s proposal to exempt accessory dwelling units from requiring permits from the commission, but allowed for those permits to be acquired without a hearing so long as they conform to the rules adopted Wednesday afternoon.
Those rules include stipulations for units being built within the coastal zone to require one parking space per unit and set the minimum lot size to be eligible to build an accessory dwelling unit at 4,800 square feet.
Granny Flat Ordinance Set for Approval As Council Tweaks State Guidelines
The city’s proposed ordinance had set the mark at 5,200 square feet which means the Coastal Commission’s vote could have opened up more of the city to potentially building accessory dwelling units. The ordinance was originally drafted as a preemptive measure to ensure that the city maintained some local control before state legislation, which would have set lot size and parking requirements, was put into effect.
Accessory dwelling units built in the city will be limited to 800 square feet or 50 percent of the original home, whichever is smaller.
Under guidelines passed by the commission those units could be exempt from the one parking space per unit rule if they’re built within a half mile of public transit, are located within a historic district, are part of a primary residence or if they’re located within one block of a car share vehicle.
Also approved by the Coastal Commission Wednesday were exemptions sought by the city as part of its efforts to modernize its beach concessions along the Long Beach waterfront.