Planning Commission to vote on seven-story East Village 'micro-unit' project
The 96-unit building will consist of studio apartments, including 12 units that will be rented out to very-low-income households if the project is approved.
Long Beach’s East Village could become home to the newest micro-unit housing project as the Planning Commission readies a vote this week on a proposed 96-unit development at a vacant parking lot on Fourth Street.
The seven-story development is proposed for a vacant surface lot across from the popular Fingerprints Music record store at Fourth Street and North Frontenac Court. Plans submitted to the city show a mix of units ranging from 325 square feet to 505 square feet and would align with the city’s pilot program aimed at bringing more smaller, affordable units to the city.
Vehicle parking will be scarce in the proposed development with just 17 spaces for vehicles being proposed in the ground-floor parking area as well as 47 bike parking spaces, according to plans submitted to the city.
New state laws have limited cities' abilities to require parking for projects that are near mass transit options and the proposed project would be located near bus stops and the Metro A Line.
The ground floor will also include a leasing office, co-working space and a lounge with another 8,200 square feet of communal open space being distributed across the property like the proposed sun deck on the seventh floor.
While the smaller units are expected to be less pricey than other market-rate units being built in the Downtown area, the project is located in the area of Long Beach that requires a percentage of new developments to be reserved for very-low-income households.
That’s under $48,550 annually for a single person, according to state income limits.
If approved and constructed, this project would have 12 affordable units in addition to the 84 other micro-units, according to a city report.
The units are expected to have full kitchens and bathrooms as well as some built-in storage areas to help maximize the space for future residents. They will also include in-unit washers and dryers for laundry.
However, a city report said that the storage space in these proposed units is smaller than what is required under the city ordinance due to a technicality in the language that city staff will update when it brings a full update of the Downtown zoning rules to the City Council for approval.
The nearly four-year-old ordinance capped the number of micro-units that could be built in Downtown and Midtown at 500. Approval of this project would bring the total number of entitled micro-units to 489 in the city.
So far, none of the units, like the ones proposed at the Dolly Varden hotel site and others, have been built.
The Planning Commission will vote on the East Village proposal at its Oct. 17 meeting.
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