Downtown And Midtown Likely To Be Focus Of Inclusionary Zoning Proposal
Long Beach Business Journal |
Driving down Long Beach Boulevard, the contrast between the landscape of Downtown Long Beach and that of the remaining city is starkly obvious. Below 8th Street, single-family homes and strip malls give way to towering office buildings and multi-story apartment complexes, with hovering cranes promising more vertical growth in the near future.
It is that growth and the flurry of development activity in the downtown area that led city staff and a team of hired consultants to identify Midtown and Downtown Long Beach as the most feasible testing ground for any inclusionary housing policy the city might consider. This is one of the main findings published in a memo presented to city leadership in July, describing the preliminary results of an economic feasibility study on inclusionary zoning. Inclusionary zoning is one of several tools the city is considering to increase production of affordable and workforce housing in an effort to help combat a statewide homelessness and housing crisis.
