A new three-story condominium complex in the Rose Park neighborhood moved one step closer to approval after the Long Beach Planning Commission voted unanimously to forward the project to the City Council for a necessary zoning change that could allow the project to proceed.
The commission advanced the project with a unanimous vote with little discussion from commissioners aside from a question about compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which city staff advised would be addressed during a future part of the project’s timeline.
Currently the parcels of land that the project would be built on is zoned for commercial uses, but if the City Council approves a zoning change in the coming months it would allow for the residential development to go forward.
The proposed project would include 23 three-story town homes built at the southeast corner of the intersection of 7th Street and Dawson Avenue. The units would be market-rate and each unit would include an attached two-car garage.
The empty parking lot that currently occupies the proposed project site is used by a church that sits to the south of where the condos would be constructed and is in the heart of one of the city’s identified parking impacted districts.
Some community members expressed concern over parking impacts due to the project, especially given its replacement of an existing parking lot.
In an email sent to the planning commission earlier this month, Jack Kurtzberg, a resident of the neighborhood just north of the proposed project for over 40 years, attributed the area’s parking crunch to multi-family housing.
“The parking situation on our block has always been a problem,” Kurtzberg wrote. “All the single-family houses have driveways, so I am sure the problem is created by the multi-family tenants and guests.”
In total, the site would include 52 parking spots including a total of six guest parking spots.
Two of the stipulations attached to the project’s approval is that the residential garages be required to park residents’ vehicles and that the developer both repave and beautify a separate parking lot across Dawson Avenue from the project where four spots would be reserved for guests of condo residents.
Other emailed comments expressed concern that the development had the potential to displace more residents by raising rents in the surrounding neighborhoods but others praised the project for its revitalization of a parking lot and its potential to draw in nearly two-dozen homeowners that could help support the local economy.
“It is encouraging to see a new investment on this side of town,” said Audrey Luna in an email sent to the commission last week. “I am confident that this will make our area even more desirable to live in.”
The project will now be sent to the City Council for a vote to change the zoning of the project site to allow for the construction of the residential units. There is currently no anticipated date for that hearing but the council’s next scheduled meeting isn’t until Feb. 2.