Long Beach on Tuesday will consider approving a 40-year plan that would create a new waterfront “main street” by encouraging new housing, dining and retail options on a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway.

The proposed changes outlined in the Southeast Area Specific Plan, or SEASP, would increase height and density around the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Second Street, which would allow developers to capitalize on underutilized real estate with mixed-use, high-rise buildings.

The 1,500 square-foot area is roughly bounded by Seventh Street, Marine Stadium and Orange County. It includes single and multifamily residential neighborhoods and several large shopping centers, such as Marina Pacifica, the Marketplace and Marina Shores.

A full breakdown of the plan, including maps, zoning boundaries and the environmental study can be found on the city’s Development Services website, but its basic tenets are:

• Establish a “gateway” destination in the southeast part of the city;

• Allow a greater mix of land uses by creating two new designations on commercial parcels: Mixed Use Community Core and Mixed Use Marina;

• Permit buildings up to seven-stories tall, with the largest projects needing to contain a hotel use and community benefits;

• Establish design guidelines that would promote coastal views, increase access to waterways and wetlands, and recommend community gathering spaces;

• Maintain existing established neighborhoods, including University Park Estates and Bixby Village;

• Correct environmental shortcomings in existing document by prioritizing wetlands enhancement with a new designation: Coastal Habitat Wetland and Recreation (117 acres);

• Create balance between automobile traffic and alternate transportation, such as walking, biking or public transit through new bike lanes, mid-block crossing and widened sidewalks.

SEASP is an update to the oldest planned development district in the city, created in 1977. The most recent effort to update the plan began in 2013 when the city accepted a $929,000 grant from the California Department of Conservation to help fund the project.

A focal point involves added protections and development buffers for the Los Cerritos Wetlands, one of the last remaining coastal salt marshes in California. Preservation and increased access to the wetlands are among a list of objectives outlined in the document.

The Planning Commission in June recommended the City Council adopt the planning document with a few slight changes, including a reduction in height for the Marketplace parking lot due to its proximity to the Los Cerritos Wetlands, according to advanced planning officer Christopher Koontz.

Before the most recent change, the plan had already been scaled back considerably from its initial proposal released over a year ago, he said.

Following the June approval recommendation, a resident appealed the decision to the City Council, the final decision making body at the local level. The council will consider the appeal on Tuesday.

Should the council approve the plan as proposed, it would be still need to garner approval from the California Coastal Commission, a state agency that has regulatory oversight of land use and public access in coastal areas.

Koontz said it could be about one year before a final decision from the Coastal Commission is handed down.