LONG BEACH : Panel Is Studying Plan for Batting Cages
The city’s Planning Commission is studying a proposal that would allow batting cages and other recreational activities in industrially zoned areas of North Long Beach.
Councilman Jerry Shultz, who introduced the proposal at last week’s council meeting, said that several vacant, weed-covered lots in the area could possibly be used for such activities, but are restricted by zoning codes that call for industrial use only.
“In my district we have virtually nothing as far as youth entertainment,” Shultz said. “And most of the kids, especially in single-parent families, can’t leave town to go to batting cages elsewhere.”
Shultz said he is interested in batting cages because they can be built on relatively small areas and could generate revenue for other city youth programs. Batting cages could also be an asset to the North Long Beach Pony Baseball League and the Jordan High School baseball team, he added.
“But the bottom line is, we have to get more kids off the street and offer them something other than hanging out,” Shultz said.
The council referred the proposal to the planning commission.
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