Community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. The Veterans Park Community Center quickly filled to capacity and some weren’t able to enter until volunteers stood instead of sitting. The crowd did not like the format of the meeting and asked if future meeting could be town hall style with question and answers from city officials. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

Robert Fox, executive director for council of neighborhood organizations speaks to the crowd at Veterans Park Community Center. (Brittany Murray/Press-Telegram)

Community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. The Veterans Park Community Center quickly filled to capacity and some weren’t able to enter until volunteers stood instead of sitting. The crowd did not like the format of the meeting and asked if future meeting could be town hall style with question and answers from city officials. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

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A concerned resident asks a question as community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. The Veterans Park Community Center quickly filled to capacity. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

The Veterans Park Community Center quickly filled to capacity and some weren’t able to enter until volunteers stood instead of sitting. The crowd did not like the format of the meeting and asked if future meeting could be town hall style with question and answers from city officials. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG



Amy Bodek director of Development Services in Long Beach, answers questions at a community meeting Saturday at Veterans Park Community Center. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

Resident Lisa Harris asks a question as community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

Community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

Amy Bodek speaks with Robert Fox, executive director for council of neighborhood organizations. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

Community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. Long Beach September 30, 2017. (Brittany Murray/Press-Telegram)



Community members gathered on Saturday to share their thoughts on a plan that will guide development in Long Beach for the next two decades. The Veterans Park Community Center quickly filled to capacity. Long Beach September 30, 2017. Photo by Brittany Murray, Press Telegram/SCNG

By Valerie Osier

Hundreds of residents filled the Veterans Park Community Center to capacity Saturday afternoon, demanding that Long Beach officials answer questions about a controversial zoning plan in a “town hall” style format.

The first of four workshops over a new plan for development in the city quickly turned into a raucous affair. Officials with the Long Beach Development Services Department had planned to talk to residents one-on-one — an idea that ultimately backfired.

Long Beach residents said the change in format was an abrupt change from what they were expecting. A series of sharp whistles broke through the shuffle, and Robert Fox, executive director of the Council of Neighborhood Organizations, yelled to the crowd after getting the room to quiet.

“As neighbors we want to hear what you have as a question, so that when the answer comes to us from the staff, we will all be able to get the same answer, I think that’s reasonable,” Fox said to the crowd. His organization represents 125 neighborhoods in Long Beach.

Fox and others are disturbed by proposed changes that would allow buildings 10 stories high along Long Beach Boulevard, six stories high around the Traffic Circle and four to five stories high in other places.

The packed community center on Saturday was lined with a pathway of poster boards of district maps and information on the draft update to the land use element of the city’s general plan, which lays out what can be built and where, through 2040. City planners and consultants were stationed at each board to answer questions.

Kevin Lee, spokesman for development services, said last week that his office wanted to format these workshops this way because they have found that people who are not usually outspoken in crowds tend to be more willing to talk with planners one-on-one.

But most residents at the workshop didn’t see it that way.

“I think what we need to have are town halls. There’s obviously a lot of anger and it’s time for the city to listen to us, whether they like it or not,” resident Alan Tolkoff said during the impromptu open forum, a comment that received loud vocal agreement from the crowd.

Fox called the intended workshop format a “divide and conquer” strategy. He said in an interview that he had approached Lee with a proposal to have a different type of meeting with a presentation from the city and one from his neighborhood association, stating their concerns, with the opportunity for residents to hear the response from the city. Fox said he was told the meetings would be workshops instead.

After rallying the crowds attention, Fox and the assistant director of CONO, Nick Rose, called for the director of Development Services, Amy Bodek, to come on stage and field questions from the audience. After about 30 minutes, Bodek had to leave to go to another engagement and was replaced by three city planning employees, who were met with scrutiny from the crowd.

The crowd questioned the officials about the lack of planning for future parking and traffic problems that would be further exacerbated by the increased density in the city. The officials on stage assured the residents that what was on the maps in the room are subject to change depending on their feedback.

The Long Beach Planning Commission has viewed the current land use plans and made suggestions that the city planners followed. The commission then wanted development services to get feedback from the public before moving forward.

“Based on that feedback we’re going to be making a number of changes, and we’ll come back with that next iteration to the planning commission and get their feedback,” said Christopher Koontz, advanced planning officer for development services.

Even after the final land-use plan is approved by the commission, the recommendations must be approved by the City Council. Then the zoning code must be updated, a process that could take five years on its own, before developers could start submitting proposals, planning officials said.

Koontz said in an interview that while a lot of people spoke up in the meeting, it wasn’t necessarily a full representation of all Long Beach residents, which is why the office may keep to the workshop format of the next planned meetings. But, the office may plan additional town halls on the subject.

“We’ve heard from some really important voices in this room, but it’s a big city and there’s young people and renters and folks who live in different parts of town that maybe weren’t well represented in the room today and they’re all part of the process too,” Koontz said.

The next workshops are:

• Oct. 4 (Wednesday), 6 to 8 p.m., Whaley Park Community Center, 5620 Atherton St.

• Oct. 14 (Saturday), 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Best Western Golden Sails Hotel, 6285 Pacific Coast Highway.

• Oct. 18 (Wednesday), 6 to 8 p.m., Expo Arts Center in Bixby Knolls, 4321 Atlantic Ave.

For more information about the update to the land use element, or to review the plan in full, visit the Long Beach Development Services website. For those who cannot attend a workshop but would like to provide their feedback, you can fill out a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/lbgpsurvey