Mixed-use developments, restaurants and recreational facilities were all part of the conversation at the Long Beach Public Library on Oct. 15, when more than 100 concerned residents packed the upstairs auditorium for a meeting on the Bayfront Resiliency Planning Study.
The study included a 19-question survey, conducted from July 14 to Sept. 15, focusing on the city’s North Park area, between Long Beach and Magnolia boulevards, from Park Avenue to the Reynolds Channel waterfront. The survey gathered residents’ feedback as the city looks to redevelop the bayfront while avoiding excessive spending or displacing those who live there. More than 1,500 residents, including 158 from North Park, completed the survey.
City Manager Dan Creighton opened the meeting by reassuring residents about the city’s plans.
“As I’ve mentioned before, we have no preconceived plans on what we’re going to be doing here,” Creighton said. “That’s what this event is for, that’s what the survey was for, and that’s what all of our future work is going to be for.”
The meeting zeroed in on three areas of focus: the former Long Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant on West Pine Street — which will be decommissioned by the end of 2027, when wastewater will be sent to the Bay Park Water Reclamation Facility, in East Rockaway, and then on to the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant, in Wantagh, before being discharged miles out into the ocean — and the city’s vehicle and material storage yards on Park Place. The three facilities are connected by city-owned property along the bayfront.
Long Beach’s director of economic development and planning, Patricia Bourne, said that decommissioning the wastewater facility will free up more than four acres of developable land.
Project Manager Taylor Garner, of Nelson Pope Voorhis, the Melville-based consulting firm helping with the study, emphasized that planning and development take time. Initial investments in sidewalks, utilities and lighting have their own costs and take years to complete, Garner explained as she noted the survey’s proposed projects, including a pedestrian bridge over the Long Island Rail Road tracks, which received 69.1 percent of participants’ votes.
“Many of these costs are incurred before a project generates any revenue,” Garner said, “and they exceed what a municipality can reasonably finance on its own.”
The participants also used preconstructed Lego models to “build” what they wanted to see in the designated areas, with some structures, from residential to mixed-use, ranging as tall as 12 stories.
There was discussion as well of creating family-friendly recreational spaces, including a performing arts center modeled on the Paramount, a popular entertainment venue in Huntington.
Overall, participants supported a combination of housing, entertainment, recreation and commercial use, but stressed that redevelopment should also take into account affordability, flooding, parking, transportation and the needs of existing neighborhoods.
Among the city’s other properties included in the study were City Hall and Kennedy Plaza, the city’s recycling yard facility, on Park Place, and the Long Beach New York Public Transportation Bus Garage, on Long Beach Boulevard, although none are considered priorities for short-term redevelopment, city officials said.
Michael Bowden, a resident who volunteers on the city’s Land Use Advisory Board, said that many people at his table were excited about the connectivity of potential redevelopment along the waterfront. They also understood the city’s commitment to both residents’ desires and fiscal responsibility, Bowden said.
“The opportunity here is to provide incentives to developers to come in and bring increased tax revenue and taxpayers to the community to pay for some benefits like this,” Bowden said.
The community feedback from the evening, Garner said, would be analyzed before the next community meeting, with a date yet to be determined. “In the meantime, while we’re working,” she said, “you can check the [city] website or follow the city’s social media pages to really find out more.”
Have an opinion on the future of the bayfront? Send a letter to ccolucci@liherald.com.
