Background

On Dec 20, 2016, the City Council requested the City Manager to work with the City Attorney, the Economic Development Commission, and the Planning Commission to review and make recommendations to amend the provisions of the Long Beach Municipal Code regarding Conditional Use Permits (CUP), including amendments to streamline and increase the effectiveness of the public noticing process. The purpose of the study is to increase the predictability and transparency of the CUP process for potential business owners and applicants. Because a significant portion of the CUP fees cover the cost of the public notification process, public noticing was specifically requested to be studied.

Stakeholder Input

During May and June, consulting firm Dyett and Bhatia engaged over 40 stakeholders, including business owners, representatives of the Council of Business Associations, previous and current CUP applicants, and members of the Planning Commission and Economic Development Commission to solicit input on the City's CUP process and gain ideas for improvement. This feedback is summarized in the Stakeholder Report.

Assessment and Recommendations

The consultant analyzed the current CUP regulations to identify opportunities to streamline the approval process. Some of the uses studied that currently require a CUP include trucking, tattoo parlors, service of alcohol, thrift stores, drive-through uses, and live-work units. The Consultant is also reviewed public notification methods from peer cities, which included Oakland, Huntington Beach, West Hollywood, and Anaheim. The noticing considerations included the mailing radius, the responsible party for providing noticing (City versus applicant), a form of notification (mailing, online, email list, website, Nextdoor, etc.), and the resulting effectiveness. See the draft report here.

Ongoing Meetings and Workshops

The Planning Commission conducted a Study Session on the CUP Study on September 7, 2017. The Planning Commission received a report on the stakeholder effort and a presenting of the draft report findings. See the Powerpoint presentation here.

The Economic Development Commission is scheduled to conduct a Study Session on the CUP Study on Tuesday, September 26, 2017. The presentation will be posted to this page when available.

Next Steps

The consultant will prepare necessary updates to the Zoning Code for presentation to Planning Commission and City Council late 2017/early 2018. Updates will be posted to this page when available.