State looks at Queensway project

By Sé J. Reed
Special to the Daily Forty-Niner

The keenly anticipated Queensway Bay Project has had a rough summer.

Concerned Long Beach locals and environmental activists could possibly delay the project after raising some concerns with the California State Land Commission about the legality of the proposed development in late June.

The complaints focus on the coastal land in downtown Long Beach that is the proposed site for the Queensway Bay development, slated to begin construction in October. Opponents of the project, including the California Earth Corps, an environmental watch group, contend the proposed development violates state laws that protect the publicly owned land.

In order to give all sides a chance to be heard, the State Land Commission conducted a public workshop in July, giving all sides a chance to be heard.

The workshop was not a commission hearing, but a venue to determine if a hearing should be scheduled, said Paul Thayer, executive officer for the commission.

Commission staff members are currently analyzing the transcripts of the workshop and discussing the issues that were raised at the workshop for inclusion in a report that will be issued to the commission in November, Thayer said.

The report will contain the recommendations of the executive offices, which may include a recommendation for the commission to hold its own hearing.

However, the offices for the commission haven't found any inconsistencies with the proposed development and the state law, Thayer said.

Long Beach city officials echoed that sentiment. The City of Long Beach is not highly concerned about the report, and is "not anticipating any problems," said Robert Paternoster, director of the Queensway Bay Project. City officials believe the decision does not fall under the commission's jurisdiction, Paternoster said.

In fact, it is unclear if the State does have jurisdiction. When the City of Long Beach took over management of the land, the State did not "leave specific oversight roles for the commission," Thayer said, which leaves the commission without a properly defined role.

"The land has been deeded over to the city," Paternoster said. "[The commission] said they wouldn't second guess the city."

The project has not been adversely affected by the commission's involvement and has continued as planned, Paternoster said.

The only delays have stemmed from unrelated issues on the commercial side of the development. Edwards Theatres, who's proposed multiplex theater was to be a main attraction at the proposed site, has declared bankruptcy, leaving the project without a theatre complex. That problem is the cities main concern at the moment, Paternoster said.

The Queensway Bay Project was originally designed to "reestablish Long Beach as the most popular waterfront destination in Southern California," according to the City of Long Beach's Web site. Proposed tenants of the commercial complex include various restaurants, numerous retail stores and a multiplex theater.

The project entered the planning stages in 1992 and has since been voted on in numerous city committees, many times passing unanimously, Paternoster said.

The long-term planning of the project is one of the primary reasons city officials are not worried about the outcome of the commission's report. There was no negative environmental or public interest until "very late in the game," according to Paternoster.

"It's only at the very end that these concerns have been raised," he said. There are many issues facing the city and of them, "Queensway Bay is the least controversial."

Any controversy that has developed is a result of the transfer of the land management from the State of California to the City of Long Beach. While no role was established for the State Land Commission, specific criteria in the form of public trust doctrines were established, dictating acceptable uses for the land. Among other things, the Tidelands Trust states that the land can only be used for commerce, fishing, navigation and public open space, Thayer said.

The problem is with the word "commerce." According to the commission Web site, the lands can only be used for "water dependent commerce." Recently, however, the term has been more loosely translated to encompass many forms of commerce that would attract the public to the lands, such as the proposed commercial complex.

The city maintains that since the development is focused on ocean and coastal-related attractions, such as the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary, it falls within the trust's allotted uses.

According to Paternoster, the opponents of the development feel that the state tidelands should not be used as anything but public open space, usually in the form of parks. The City of Long Beach's position is that Queensway Bay is public open space, just with a different interpretation.

"This is not for the private profit of developers," Paternoster said. "We are trying to develop it into a great public space. The whole idea of Queensway Bay is to attract millions of people."