Parking minimums in Long Beach could be changed as proposal heads to City Council
One of the changes would end parking minimums from changing for businesses that are taking over Long Beach storefronts in buildings over 10 years old.
Long Beach is looking to update some of its parking regulations with some aligning city rules with state law that prohibits parking from being required for some residential projects and others aimed at removing barriers for businesses to open up in the city.
The Long Beach Planning Commission voted Thursday to send a handful of proposed updates to the City Council for final approval later this year with the biggest proposed changes focusing on parking minimums for businesses.
Long Beach’s codes set rules for how many parking spaces shopping centers, swap meets, car dealerships, restaurants and other retail locations must have. They are typically tied to the square footage of the business, but the city said that some of these minimums might be stymying vacant storefronts from being filled.
For instance, an existing furniture store requires two off-street parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of floor area. But a proposal to convert it into a market with fresh food would require twice as much off-street parking for the business to gain city approval.
The current rules would require the prospective business to provide additional parking off-site or share parking spaces with another business. The proposed change that the Planning Commission approved Thursday would eliminate parking minimums when there’s a change in the use of a commercial space in a building that’s over a decade old.
Other changes would allow businesses to expand their square footage without having to add parking spaces, something that is required under current parking requirements.
Under the proposed changes, a restaurant could add a dining parklet that eats into its on-site parking, though the city would have to grant it a special permit after proof of a parking management plan, agreement to share parking or additional bike parking is created.
The commission also approved some tweaks to residential parking rules. Current zoning requires certain home additions over 250 square feet to be coupled with additional parking spaces but the proposed changes would exempt single-family homes outside of parking-impacted areas from having to add parking spaces as long as they have a driveway that’s at least 20 feet long.
Another change will create “parking exempt” zones in the city where residential, commercial or other future developments will not have to provide any level of parking.
A map presented to the Planning Commission Thursday showed most of these areas to be in Downtown and Central Long Beach but also includes some parts of west and North Long Beach as well as a small portion of the city near Cal State Long Beach.
Those changes will bring the city into compliance with a state law that was adopted in February 2023 that sought to ease parking rules for single-family home additions and another that now prohibits cities from enforcing any parking minimums on projects that are within one-half mile of public transit.
The Planning Commission will forward its recommendations to the City Council for final approval.
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