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City planners want to allow building heights of 10 stories at the ¼ mi. radius transit nodes for Long Beach Blvd./Willow and Long Beach Blvd./Pacific Coast Hwy., as well as 5 stories between these points. Such density will overwhelm the historical-traditional Wrigley neighborhood. This is exactly what Long Beach planners want to do to Wrigley in the new Land Use Element (LUE). The neighborhood cannot sustain the population density impact created by such over-building. Wrigley is already struggling as one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Long Beach.
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Wrigley needs lowered building heights of a maximum of 3 stories above ground & 1 story underground for parking to revitalize the neighborhood but not destroy it.

(Edinger Avenue in Huntington Beach)

10-story high-rises could be coming to the ¼ mile radius transit nodes at the Long Beach Blvd/Willow intersection and the Long Beach Blvd/Pacific Coast Hwy intersection.  City planners must act to prevent this disaster by revising the LUE to a maximum  of 3 stories above ground & 1 story underground for parking.

A PICTURE OF DENSITY

DOUBLE GEOGRAPHICAL WHAMMY

No matter how many pages of EIR or LUE explanations have been produced, the cold, hard facts are that the historical-traditional Wrigley neighborhood is subject to shaking by two faults and prone to subsequent liquefaction. Because of the double whammy, of special concern are the city’s planned ¼ mile transit nodes at the Long Beach Blvd./Willow intersection and at the Long Beach Blvd./Pacific Coast Hwy intersection where 10 story construction is allowable in these areas.  Also, of concern is the intervening 5 story height allowance along Long Beach Blvd.  Furthermore, 4 stories on Pacific and Wardlow is unacceptable.  Allowing high-rises in vulnerable zones is extremely imprudent.  City planners must only allow a maximum of 3 stories above ground & one story underground for parking.   Residents will be much safer in lower buildings, and the neighborhood will not be overwhelmed with excessive density.

Earthquake

The following diagram reveals that Long Beach Blvd. is adjacent to two faults—the Cherry Hill Fault and the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone.  In fact, the Newport-Inglewood Fault crosses Long Beach at Willow St. in the proposed 10 story transit node area.  Furthermore, the Long Beach Blvd/ Pacific Coast Hwy 10 story node is not that far from the Newport-Inglewood Fault either.  The Cherry Hill Fault crosses Long Beach Blvd. at Wardlow.

(The vertical line is Long Beach Blvd. with the top circle indicating

Willow and the bottom circle indicating Pacific Coast Hwy.)

Liquefaction

Wrigley is also situated in a large liquefaction zone.  Most of the Long Beach Blvd./ Willow transit node and some of  the Long Beach Blvd./Pacific Coast Hwy. traffic node are found in the liquefaction zone. Here 10 story construction for a ¼ mile radius is presently allowed in the LUE. The following diagram shows the liquefaction area:
Permitting 10-story construction in a liquefaction zone in the LUE is NOT excellence in planning!  Planners must reduce heights to a maximum of 3 stories above ground & 1 story underground for parking.  The lighter weight of lower buildings may lessen liquefaction damage and will protect lives. Also, less density in Wrigley will preserve the neighborhood’s quality of life!

( The vertical line with a  top and bottom circle is Long Beach Blvd.  The top circle represents the Willow intersection and the bottom circle represents the Pacific Coast Hwy. intersection.)

Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other sudden change in stress condition, causing it to behave like a liquid.

The Cold Hard Facts
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