Activists Oppose Retail Center Plan
Environmentalists in east Long Beach are attacking plans to build a six-acre retail center near federally protected wetlands.
Groups including a Sierra Club task force have denounced a proposal to change the commercial and recreational designation of vacant former oil refinery property owned by the family of actor Tom Selleck. They say it is too close to struggling retail outlets to support a proposed supermarket and restaurant.
But beyond the zoning question, the activists said they fear that such piecemeal changes to the area’s 20-year-old development plan could threaten the nearby Los Cerritos Wetlands.
The wetlands are on 200 acres of vacant, former oil property in county territory that Long Beach wants to annex and extend Studebaker Road to Pacific Coast Highway.
“What concerns us most is the loss of wetlands,†said Ann Cantrell, conservation chairwoman of the El Dorado Audubon Society. She suggested that a new environmental impact study be done.
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