Long Beach is the second-largest city (by a significant amount) in LA County but that doesn’t mean it has to look like its much larger neighbor to the north, Los Angeles. Based on new Land Use Element maps released in November, it won’t anytime soon. 

Under pressure from the community to slow down large-scale growth, the city scaled back plans to allow for taller developments and an expanded area for larger builds. As Curbed LA explains, it’s geared toward accommodating 18,200 new residents and 28,500 new jobs between now and 2040. However, that becomes much tougher when the new plan removes space for thousands of potential housing units.

According to the plan itself, key elements of the new maps include protecting single-family neighborhoods, environmental preservation, limiting building height increases, and reducing the number of residents that commute of Long Beach (among other goals). 

Right now, 44 percent of the city is single-family residences and 16 percent are parks. With 19 percent devoted to infrastructure (including the airport), that leaves about 20 percent or so of the city left — largely confined to the downtown area — for larger and taller developments. 

When proposals were first discussed to make Long Beach denser and transportation-focused many locals pushed back loudly. This revised plan is the result of that, though the height limits and smaller space allowed for mixed-use developments and condos would seem to directly come into conflict with city goals for growth.