The City of Long Beach is in the process of updating the Vision for the Downtown Shoreline, crafting a new future of what the community would like to see in one of the City's most prominent spaces looking ahead to the years 2035, 2050, 2075, and beyond. The project team has reached a critical point in the process, filtering all of the Big Ideas we shared in 2024 through the feedback we heard, and testing the ideas against technical studies, to craft the Draft Vision Concept, the draft preferred alternative for the Downtown Shoreline.
The City is collecting public comments now through June 8, 2024. Please leave your comments online or email them to downtownplan@longbeach.gov.
The draft document is available in English and Spanish. Please email downtownplan@longbeach.gov to request a translation into other languages.
The City wants to hear your thoughts on the draft concept before final drafts. As you review the draft, please consider how the strategies and ideas may impact you, your neighborhood, and your organization.
The Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan is the first step in a multi-phased effort to update the regulations that guide development in the Downtown Shoreline area.
Guided by community input, the Vision Plan will define an image of the area in 2050 including the role Downtown Shoreline fulfills as a local and regional resource, what types of uses the area should support, and how Downtown Shoreline can better reflect and support Long Beach residents -- so it is truly everyone's shoreline.
Downtown Long Beach is the only significant urban center in the region that directly engages the Pacific Ocean, and the Shoreline area is Downtown’s gateway to the waterfront.
Like many waterfront areas around the world, Downtown Shoreline currently contains a mix of uses and associations. It serves as a residential area along Ocean Boulevard, a workplace, a tourist destination, an active waterfront for mariners, and a venue for regional events.
The area also has a history that many long-time members of the Long Beach Community remember fondly, and development over the last 20 years has significantly shifted what there is to do in the area, who visits and when.
These varied perspectives and their competing priorities produce lots of ideas about the future of the Downtown Shoreline area, and the Vision Plan is an opportunity to listen to all perspectives, define what role the community would like the Downtown Shoreline to play, explore design possibilities and arrive at a Vision for the future that supports the community's aspirations for the year 2050.
The Vision that emerges will serve as the foundation for a new Specific Plan that will codify the vision into regulations that will guide development so future changes in the area are consistent with the Community's Vision for the future.
The Downtown Shoreline covers the coastal area south of Downtown Long Beach. It spans between the Los Angeles River and Alamitos Avenue and includes everything south of Ocean Boulevard.
Opportunities Lookbook
To complement and support the ongoing community visioning and engagement work the Downtown Shoreline Vision Plan Opportunities Lookbook has been developed to summarize the plan area history, and existing conditions of the area today related to land use, urban design and mobility today. The Lookbook can be viewed using the links below:
Data Working Group
To gain a deeper understanding of local needs and ensure a community-centered approach, the City partnered with specialists, community-based organizations and neighborhood associations. A summary of the valuable insights and feedback received during these processes can be found in the following reports:
The Project team conducted several community outreach events throughout the second half of 2023, and worked with Community Roundtable members, a group of community members, stakeholders, and advocates to craft a Community Vision Statement and eight guiding principles that reflect community input.
The guiding principles were available for community review in an online survey (4/2/24 - 9/2/24) that asked the community to review the principles, identify aspirational priorities and share additional ideas for the future of Downtown Shoreline.
The Vision Statement and Guiding Principles form the framework for the Draft Vision Concept.
A Community Design charrette is an intense design and engagement process where the community is invited to work directly with neighbors, business owners, stakeholders, City staff and a team of planners and designers to illustrate the community’s vision for the future. We hope you can join us as we work together to craft a clear vision for the future of the Downtown Shoreline area - Everyone’s Shoreline!
The multi-day Community Design Charrette invites the community, stakeholders, and other interested parties into the design process to consider opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs afforded by different changes that could happen in the future.
Throughout the charrette, the project team will explore "Big Moves." Including questions like, "What could the Convention Center be in the future?" "How would reshaping the physical edges of the Shoreline change the district and improve resiliency?" "How can we physically, visually and culturally reconnect the Shoreline to Downtown and the City?"
We will explore the opportunities and challenges afforded by these "Big Moves" through the lens of leading issues that will shape our design thinking, including environmental resiliency, economic resiliency, equity, and connectivity.
Most of the Community Design Charrette activities will be held June 14 and 15, with a community launch on June 13, and a work-in-progress presentation for the Planning Commission on June 20.
