Let’s get the DIP out of SEADIP!

Much to my surprise and delight, I recently found an appeal for action from a neighbor among the reams of flyers for tree trimmers, maid services and pizza delivery bargains that litter my doorstep regularly. Kerrie Aley dropped off a copy of the survey the Long Beach Planning Department has issued about development in southeast Long Beach along with a heartfelt letter. “Your input is critical,” she writes. “Please mail back the survey to the City by March 31, 2008." My husband dug into the survey with energy I rarely see in him after a long day of work, including a few of his own spontaneous recommendations to the City.

You can rant or vent or just check off a few boxes by downloading the survey and mailing it to the Planning Department by March 31, 2008. While you’re there you can sign up for email for updates on Planning Department decisions on the area involved, roughly bounded by 7th Street, Marine Stadium, and the Orange County border.

Most people know about the controversy about building a Home Depot at Loynes and Studebaker on the edge of a large tract of undeveloped land. The city has had its eye on the area for years under the aegis of SEADIP (Southeast Area Development and Improvement Plan). After embroiling downtown and northeast Long Beach in various sweetheart deals with large retail outfits that start big and slowly collapse under the weight of their own ambitions, the city appears ready to pave over another quarter of the city. This would be objectionable enough given the track record of past failures, but the area involved here is one of the last viable wetlands in Southern California. My son Tony took the photo above that shows the mix of industry and nature that now exists.

The good news is that a Superior Court judge invalidated the City’s environmental impact report for the Home Depot Center which will delay that project. More information on the decision can be found at the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust website, which includes lots of background information and a cool video.The bad news is that plans for another mixed use condo/retail/ restaurant complex is underway and recommendations from the SEADIP Task Force that may relax requirements for traffic studies in future development.

The report issued by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Study Group in 2005 has some juicy tidbits about the perilous condition of the area. The wetlands once covered 1,500 acres stretching from Cal State Long Beach south and encompassing all of Belmont Shore (that’s one expensive swamp!). Over the years, many toxic substances, some of them carcinogens, have been dumped there and no estimate has ever been made about how much a clean-up would cost.

Jurisdiction over the area is shared by the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach as well as Los Angeles County, and none of them have stepped up to the plate to enforce any standards. Happily, the natural cycles of the ecosystem can break down many of the toxic elements if monitored and maintained.

Anyone who’s enjoyed the roller coaster effect while driving on Loynes won’t be surprised that the Study Group believed that subsidence was affecting both Loynes and the south part of Studebaker. It recommended that commercial trucks be prohibited. California’s Environmental website CERES has some interesting historical maps and a valuable factsheet about the wetlands.

Three years ago, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Study Group concluded that “one thing is patently clear. . . the taxpaying citizens of District 3 have a strong desire to preserve and restore the Los Cerritos Wetlands." With coordinated effort, we can build on the success of Bolsa Chica wetlands and Colorado Lagoon and restore this rare natural resource into another source of Long Beach pride.