Long Beach released its plans for two of the city’s oldest park spaces downtown which span over 100 feet across multiple blocks and haven’t been updated since the 1980s.
Victory Park and Santa Cruz Park, established in Long Beach in 1889 and 1919 respectively, act less as traditional park space and more as independent strips of green space adjacent to downtown buildings along Ocean Boulevard from Golden Avenue to Shoreline Drive.
The City hopes to link these areas to create a cohesive recreational area, and the Long Beach City Council will review the updated guidelines for those plans on Feb. 6. The guidelines identify the different ways the City can redesign the spaces through furnishings, landscaping, signage and other elements to link the 19 spaces with one another.
Each park segment is designed to have 15 feet of a “Frontage Zone,” with a cohesive design to link all the segments, and 30 feet of a “Flex Zone,” where various uses and designs can be implemented. Those elements can be seating, plants, monuments, hydration stations, bike racks, public art or lighting.
The guidelines restrict any park space from being within 80 feet of the already existing buildings in that space, which are all privately owned, and require clear pathways to the buildings that run parallel to the park space.
All costs associated with the design, installation and maintenance of the park segments will be covered by the property owners of the buildings adjacent to the park spaces.
Core principles for the guidelines include offering a variety of experiences and uses across the areas, not interfering with existing residential uses, using sustainable materials and improving pedestrian access.
All costs associated with the design, installation and maintenance of the park segments will be covered by the property owners of the buildings adjacent to the park spaces.
Other cities with linear parks helped to inspire some of the design elements in the plan, including Patricia’s Green in San Francisco, Ricardo Lara Park in Lynwood, the Lincoln Road Mall in Miami, Rail Park in Philadelphia and Klyde Warren Park in Dallas.
Long Beach hosted a community outreach event covering the guideline update for Santa Cruz and Victory Park in 2019. Since then, the City has had multiple meetings with property owners who will be impacted by the park spaces.
For the flex zones, the staff report encourages shaded areas for community gathering, moveable furniture and areas that are designed with safety and accessibility at all hours. The guidelines also identify multiple ways to redirect stormwater, such as porous surfaces, decomposed granite floors and green-focused infrastructure.
Plans for the parks include historical design elements highlighting the history and culture of Downtown Long Beach, such as large-scale maps etched into the ground across the segments, public art and signage explaining its connection to the city, images etched into benches and more.
Other recommended features include pet waste collection stations, rubber surfaces or swings for play and spaces for temporary rotating art installations.
The Long Beach City Council will review the updated guidelines for Victory and Santa Cruz Park at its Feb. 6 meeting, taking place at the Long Beach City College Liberal Arts Campus (4901 E Carson St.) in Building T, Room 1100 at 5 p.m.
Parking is available at the PS1 Parking Structure (on map, entry off Clark Avenue). The meeting will also be live streamed on longbeach.gov/LBTV or youtube.com/longbeachtelevision/streams.
