Revised land use maps released Friday include a reduction in height and density across the city, but with those concessions comes the likelihood that Long Beach may not be able to build enough housing to accommodate for future population growth.

But, officials say, it’s the most balanced plan they could accomplish after 18 months of work and community feedback, including four community meetings that at times turned contentious.

“Growth is going to happen whether we like it or not, and it’s not just Long Beach. It’s happening across the nation, it’s global,” said Development Services Director Amy Bodek. “We would rather plan for it in a rational way than have it happen to us.”

The proposed maps are part of a comprehensive update to the Land Use Element of the city’s General Plan. The Land Use Element, adopted in 1989, sets basic rules for the kinds of buildings that can be built in a given neighborhood and, as proposed, would lay a framework for development through 2040.

When maps were first released to the Planning Commission in June, commissioners were uncomfortable with the proposed density and declined to recommend approval by the City Council. The plan was slated to go to the council for consideration in August, but that decision was met with opposition by some of the city’s most vocal constituents.

Many at those meetings were upset about proposed maps that would allow buildings seven stories high in Alamitos Beach, six stories high around the Traffic Circle and four to five stories high in a lot of other places.

Some of those heights still remain in the proposed plan, but many have been scaled back by at least one or two stories. And in some cases, areas that were proposed as mixed use have been returned to their current commercial use.

The most recent revisions were born out of a series of town hall meetings called by Mayor Robert Garcia, who felt the plans would have allowed too much density in many suburban areas. Those meetings were well-attended and, at times, quite contentious.

There were calls by some to concentrate growth in the downtown area, but officials say that’s something they cannot do as the downtown comprises only 2 percent of the city. The plan primarily concentrates height and density along transit corridors, including Long Beach Boulevard, along which the Blue Line runs, as well as busy roadways such as Anaheim and Seventh streets and the Traffic Circle area.

City Manager Pat West on Friday said, “The past four meetings were difficult, but we listened and paid attention.” In a written statement he noted that it was clear from community input that changes were necessary.

Housing, especially the affordable kind, is a major need in cities across the state of California. The Southern California Association of Governments, a regional agency charged with planning for more than 38,000 square miles of the Southland, determined in its most-recent Regional Housing Needs Assessment that Long Beach needs to develop 7,000-plus new housing units between 2014 and 2021.

The number of Los Angeles County residents who can afford a single-family home in the county has trended downward since the first quarter of 2012, when California Association of Realtors data showed 51 percent of county residents could afford to buy a house. As of the second quarter of 2017, the affordability rate for the county dropped by nearly half, to 28 percent.

“We do feel that it is critically important that there be housing opportunities throughout the entire city,” Bodek said.

A few of the most notable changes include:

Reduced building heights along the edges of historic housing districts to protect the character of the neighborhoods.

Reduced building heights in Alamitos Beach from a proposed seven stories to four stories.

Scaling back a large section of the Los Altos area along Bellflower Boulevard, changing the proposed five-story, mixed-use designation to two-story commercial in most of the stretch, and three-story mixed use in the shopping center that houses Sears and Lazy Acres.

Reduced building heights from six to four stories on the eastern portion of the Traffic Circle, between Los Coyotes Diagonal and Pacific Coast Highway.

Reduced building heights from 10 to five stories in the Wrigley area, along Pacific Avenue between Spring and 25th streets. Ten-story building heights adjacent to the Willow Blue Line Station are maintained.

Two Worthington Ford sites, south of Wardlow Road, were changed from four-story mixed use to its current two-story commercial use.

Added a buffer between the California Heights neighborhood and existing industrial uses near Willow Springs Park.

Converted a lot of industrial in North Long Beach to neo-industrial, in an effort to protect jobs and increase compatibility with existing neighborhoods.

Approximately 44 percent of the city is home to single family residences, which saw no changes under the revised maps. In total, the plan provides for redevelopment on about 16 percent of existing land area, Bodek said.

Advanced Planning Officer Christopher Koontz, who has worked closely on the plans, said he believes it can “bring a lot of investment an change to the parts of Long Beach that are really in need.”

The maps are set to go to the Planning Commission for consideration the week of December 11.