As Long Beach works to meet the state’s housing mandate of 26,000 new homes by 2028, a new state law could make building faster and parking more difficult.
The law, AB 2553, allows cities to do away with parking minimums for new housing developments that are within a half mile of major transit stops, which is defined as any intersection of at least two bus routes at a frequency of 20 minutes or less during the morning and afternoon commute period.
Residents near PCH and Long Beach Boulevard fear it could make parking worse for them.
“Where you want them to park? There is no parking. It's a mess,” said Denise Alvarez, who lives near two bus routes and a metro stop “All you see is this whole line of cars in the middle of the street and cars can't pass by. You have people arguing and fighting.”
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The idea behind the new law is to make it easier for builders to create homes and help ease the state's housing crisis. It also hopes to encourage more people to ditch their cars and use transit instead.
"I'm working as a hospice nurse, I cannot go to a patient’s house here and there just using the Metro,” said Sweet Escobar, who lives near PCH and worries about working-class families being able to find a parking spot when they come home.
“When we work at 4 or 5 in the morning, how can we use Metro?” asked Ricardo Elizalde, a resident who says asking workers to use mass transit to get to job sites is unrealistic.
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The new law, which goes into effect in January, only applies to new housing developments.
