City begins next stage of comprehensive plan

A redeveloped bayfront, a revitalized central business district and even a new location for City Hall were among the ideas discussed at a planning meeting last week aimed at gathering public input that could shape the future of Long Beach.

City officials are continuing to engage with the public as it revamps its Comprehensive Plan to create a more resilient and economically sustainable Long Beach, a plan that officials have described as the next step in the city’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.

The latest round of open house meetings on the plan began on June 8 at East School, followed by a series of neighborhood-specific open houses held throughout the community as part of the City Council’s Long Beach Listens program.

The goal of the meetings is to get feedback on which initiatives residents would like officials to focus on, with particular emphasis placed on plans to develop the bay area, revitalize the central business district and increase connectivity from the ocean to bay front. Different “stations” at the meetings contained information on possible projects for residents to rate their interest in. City officials and representatives from the various engineering firms they’ve partnered with were on hand collecting feedback from the different groups of residents that attended.

“If you live in a different part of the community, you’re going to look at the city differently,” observed Director of Economic Development Patricia Bourne, who added that the open house format of the meetings was designed to make residents more comfortable and give everyone a chance to talk to officials face-to-face without the formality of a city council meeting.

The open houses kicked off on June 8 in the East End at East Elementary School and are scheduled to run through June 18 with meetings at the Long Beach Public Library, West Elementary School and Martin Luther King Center.