This one’s been in the works for a while, but as the Press-Telegram’s Joe Segura reported recently, the State Lands Commission has reversed its position on a land swap deal with the city which led to the creation of The Pike at Rainbow Harbor.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How will this affect my ability to suck down a tray of Nontinis at P.F. Chang’s and admire the lights on a fake roller coaster? The answer is: we don’t know yet, but just to be safe you might want to switch to Zima (which is totally back). You know–until this whole thing blows over. If it does.

The land swap went down seven years ago, Segura reports, when in 2001 the Commission agreed to trade the city three acres of land where the Pike is now for 10 acres of land near the Broadway off-ramp to the Long Beach (710) Freeway.

This meant the commission would apparently loosen tideland restrictions on the Pike’s shoreline land–where its movie theater, video arcade and bookstore now sit–while apparently agreeing to apply those same restrictions to the 10 acres of freeway land nearby. Make sense? Hmmm.

According to Segura, those restrictions mean “development use is restricted to ocean and harbor-related functions, such as navigation, fishing, restaurants and limited types of commerce–mainly the type that provides services to visitors.”

Environmentalists–specifically the California Earth Corps–challenged the swap in court, arguing that the Pike didn’t meet those restrictions, and the city and the Pike’s owner took the matter all the way to the California Supreme Court. But to no avail.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling–and dismissed the city’s appeal with prejudice–agreeing that the Commission did not have the authority to approve the land swap. And here we are.

“The future of the Pike has been in limbo for years,” Segura writes. It will be interesting to watch the city’s next move.

Tags: California, California Earth Corps, california supreme court, Joe Segura, Long Beach, Pike land swap, Southern California, State Land Commission, The District Weekly, The Pike at Rainbow Harbor, Theo Douglas, Zima

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D. Kelson 6 months ago 1 point
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Well I guess we've found yet one more mode for the city to fail in redevelopment efforts. Is it too late to bring the Spruce Goose back?

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Theo Douglas 6 months ago 1 point
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I would LOVE to see the Spruce Goose come back from Bigfoot country. There's a piece of Long Beach history.

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lbresident 6 months ago 1 point
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If the city is forced to remove the movie theatre and arcade, it may be an opportunity to re-negotiate with the developer. The developer never delivered on the retail clients it promised. This may be an opening to put some pressure on them.

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Andreas 6 months ago 1 point
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Isn't the developer for this project some schnook out of Texas. That whole thing down there is awful. It was long beach's knee jerk reaction to Irvine's spectrum development. Bad idea to begin with followed by poor execution = lamecity.com It's another thorn in the side of downtown and should be blown up.

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