Long Beach gets into ADU standard plans, Parking replaces Hyperloop test track, and more

Following the City and County of Los Angeles, City of Long Beach is the latest jurisdiction to get into pre-approved accessory dwelling unit plans.

This week, the city announced that it will begin accepting prototype ADU pland and/or manufactured ADU designs which can be used by Long Beach property owners, and also steamline the ADU approval process. Eligible applicants must be a licensed architect or engineering within the State of California, and be local to the Long Beach area. Applicants may submit up to two single-story ADU plans, up to 1,200 square feet each, for consideration.

More information is available at longbeach.gov/lbpaadu.

One note of caution: while these programs capture headlines, their ability to really make an impact is less clear. Reports have indicated that the City of Los Angeles program has had a limited number of takers since in March 2021, even as ADUs make up a big portion of regional housing production.

In other Long Beach news, the city is launching an assistance program for first-time homebuyers, providing roughly 100 families with up to $20,000 to support a down payment and closing costs.

The application process will open in early 2023, and and is restricted to residents who live within a federal Community Development Block Grant designated census tract in Long Beach.

Learn more here: longbeach/LBHomeGrant.

Here's what we're reading this week:

Musk’s SpaceX Dismantles Hyperloop Prototype, Puts Up a Parking Lot "The demise of the test tunnel — a roughly mile-long white cylinder running along Jack Northrop Avenue near the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. office in Hawthorne, California — is symbolic of a larger retreat. While Musk still says he wants to build a Hyperloop, the project has been indefinitely shelved. Musk did end up founding a tunnel-based company called Boring Co., but it falls short of levitation and jet-like speeds. Instead, at its transit system in Las Vegas, Teslas drive conference-goers through dedicated subterranean roads at a ho-hum pace." (Bloomberg)

Caltrans and Metro to Upgrade Bike Lanes on New Burbank Boulevard Bridge "The upgrades are anticipated to be installed by December." (Streetsblog LA)

Central L.A. Bike Lane Update: 6th St., Ave.19, Union Station, and Missed Opportunity on N. Spring (Streetsblog LA)

In Just 2 Weeks, 223K Applied For Section 8 Housing In Los Angeles "Only 30,000 waitlist spots are available. The city will now enter applicants into a lottery to determine who will eventually receive a Section 8 housing voucher — a process that could take months or years." (LAist)

Lawsuit filed over dedicated bus line through Eagle Rock "The complaint says, among other things, that the Metro Board of directors violated the state’s open meeting law by failing to follow proper procedures before holding a public meeting on April 28 by teleconference instead of in person. At that meeting, the transit agency’s board approved the rapid-transit bus line between North Hollywood and Pasadena, which would pass through Eagle Rock." (Eastsider)

Big Blue Bus ridership is up, but still down 50% compared to pre-pandemic numbers "Santa Monica’s regional transportation system, Big Blue Bus (BBB), is still struggling to bounce back from COVID-19, with annual ridership in fiscal year 2021-22 (July 2021 through June 2022) at 6,312,168. That 6.3 million number is a substantial increase over the previous fiscal year 2020-21 ridership of 5 million passengers, but way down compared to the last substantially pre-pandemic period, fiscal year 2019-20, when 12.5 million riders were recorded." (Santa Monica Daily Press)

California set a record for greenhouse gas reductions in 2020, but it means nothing "First, the good news: The amount of planet-warming gases Californians released into the atmosphere in 2020 was 9% less than the previous year — a record decline mostly because of motorists driving less amid the COVID-19 lockdown....Now, the bad news: The quantity of carbon dioxide spewed by record-setting wildfires that same year effectively erased almost two decades of emission reductions on the part of the world’s fifth — and soon to be fourth — largest economy." (LA Times)

The Times’ downtown L.A. printing facility will shut down in 2024 "Los Angeles landlord and builder Harridge Development Group bought the plant in 2016 for $120 million and was expected to redevelop the property. In 2019, New York real estate developer Atlas Capital Group paid about $240 million for the site....Last year, Atlas announced that it planned to redevelop the site into a Hollywood-style lot with 17 soundstages to meet strong regional demand for movie and television production facilities." (LA Times)