Land Trust Finds Alternative 2nd + PCH Plan

As a decision on 2nd + PCH nears, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust has released the results of a study with alternative versions of the proposed development that it asserts will reduce perhaps the biggest opposition to the project: traffic.

The study, produced by the traffic engineering firm of Darnell & Associates, states that significant traffic impact could be avoided by cutting the proposed retail in half, the group’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Lambe, said.

Currently, the development project includes a condo tower, hotel, theater and restaurant-shopping complex. But in its present state, it would require changing a land use law to allow up to eight more stores to be built – also more studies on air quality and traffic levels at 25 intersections throughout Long Beach.

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust is looking for a compromise on the scope of the project, it announced last week.

“We commissioned this study for two reasons,” said Lambe. “The first reason was to help the community understand that there are alternatives that could be built at that corner that would allow for reasonable development without necessarily tripping as many significant traffic impacts as the current proposal does.”

Their report also suggests that if more of the retail space is converted to hotel space, the traffic relief gets even better, Lambe said. For example, she said the extra morning impact at the 2nd St./PCH intersection and 2nd St./Studebaker Road would be avoided.

California Enviromental law requires that feasible alternatives must be considered if they are environmentally superior, said LCWLT President Pat Bliss.

“That didn’t happen in this case,” Bliss said. “Instead the developer ran a bunch of scenarios based on a seemingly random set of criteria. That shouldn’t be acceptable to the city, and we know it won’t be acceptable to the courts, should that route become necessary.”http://patch.com/A-m0Vc

“The precedent setting nature of the proposed development should concern all those who care about the integrity of local zoning and how it works to protect those of us who live in the neighborhoods near  Los Cerritos Wetlands,” added Keith Simmons, nearby University Park Estates resident and wetlands activist.  “If we allow one giant, traffic-producing development to be constructed, more will come, and we, the local residents, will be left to navigate increasingly worse traffic, traffic that will have an adverse effect on our quality of life and on our local wetlands.”

To view the traffic alternatives study produced by Darnell and Associates and the letter summarizing their findings that was sent to the City of Long Beach’s Planning Department by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust, go to www.lcwlandtrust.org.

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Los Cerritos Wetlands.