Pacific Avenue, Long Beach

The site

A vacant, city-owned 16,000 sf lot in the Midtown Specific Plan's transit node. The plan's transit-node rules were written for mixed-use buildings, with an 18-foot commercial ground floor and a heavily glazed front facade.

Our approach

• We ran the numbers on a 12-unit project first. At that size, Long Beach's inclusionary housing requirement would have called for two affordable homes, and at those rents the project did not pencil.
• Filed the townhome project at 9 units, below the 10-unit inclusionary trigger, with one very low-income home to earn density bonus concessions.
• Sequenced the ADUs to follow the townhome project: a detached two-unit ADU building and an attached ADU, which are approved ministerially under state ADU law. The result is 12 homes with one affordable unit.
• Used the State Density Bonus Law with one very low-income home: a concession reduced the front setback to 5'-6", and waivers addressed the 18-foot ground-floor height and the 60% front-window requirement.
• The site is a quarter mile from a major transit stop. AB 2097 removes minimum parking, so the two-car garages are a market choice rather than a requirement.
• We also ran the project under Long Beach's newly updated Enhanced Density Bonus ordinance. State law fit better.

Why ADU timing matters

State ADU law treats ADUs proposed together with a new multifamily project differently from ADUs added to a building that already exists. A proposed multifamily project can include up to two detached ADUs. Once the building exists, the owner can add up to eight detached ADUs (no more than the number of existing units) plus ADUs converted from non-livable space. Whether to file the ADUs with the project or after it changes what is allowed, so we plan the sequence with the city from the first submittal.