Monday, September 17, 2001 Q'Way land-use deal faces vote   By Jason Gewirtz, Staff writer LONG BEACH - If the State Lands Commission approves a land-use swap today in Sacramento, the move may affect the type of recreation that can occur at downtown's Cesar Chavez Park. The swap, which the City Council endorsed Thursday, is believed to be a key jump-start to the delayed Queensway Bay waterfront retail project. State Lands Commission approval is expected to clear any opposition that might affect legal or financing problems down the road. While the city owns the Queensway Bay land near the convention center, the state can limit development use there because the land was once submerged. Under the swap proposal, the state would relinquish those restrictions on three acres of Queensway Bay to allow the city to build a movie theater, a bookstore and structures for other uses. In exchange, the city would offer the state development restrictions on about 10 acres of city land near the Los Angeles River, west and north of Cesar Chavez Park. Today, Cesar Chavez Park consists of 13 developed acres from Broadway to 6th Street, northbound Shoreline Drive to Golden Avenue. But the 10 acres proposed in the swap have long been considered for a future extension of the park. In 1996, the Recreation Commission approved two master plans that outlined use on those remaining 10 acres, said Phil Hester, the city's parks director. Under an "interim" master plan, the 10 acres were to include a dog park, among other more passive uses. A bridge crossing Shoreline Drive would connect the area to the existing park. But under an "ultimate" master plan, the 10 acres were to include a basketball court, a soccer field and a volleyball court, among other active uses. The ultimate plan came about in part because McDonnell Douglas Corp. was proposing a downtown development at the time, Hester said. That plan called for relocating the northbound Shoreline Drive, opening up the park to a larger contiguous area. While the ultimate plan has never been implemented - a result of the McDonnell Douglas proposal fizzling and the prohibitive costs of moving the road - the Queensway Bay swap would demand passive recreation use of the land. Those uses would include walking trails, biking trails and picnic or rest areas. On Thursday, several residents raised issue with the requirement for passive recreation over active recreation as was ultimately planned. They also raised questions about the location of the park itself. The majority of the 10 acres is now a median between northbound and southbound lanes of Shoreline Drive. "The whole idea of making this public parkland is probably bogus," said Ann Cantrell, a park advocate. But City Manager Henry Taboada said he's not concerned about the passive use requirement. After the city gives the state the right to restrict land uses on the property, he said, he expects legislation that will allow the city more latitude in developing active recreation uses in the future. "I think we can still get back to that," he said. Hester said he is also not concerned about any change in use. There are other examples of state-restricted land that have basketball courts and other active uses on them, he said. Even if only passive use is created on the property, it also will likely be different than first envisioned. The originally proposed dog park, for instance, is now considered to be a wetlands under the current proposal, Hester said. Regardless of the type of use on the land, the open space will match the city's goals of creating parks along the river, he said. "For what we're trying to do with the preservation of parks along the L.A. River," Hester said, "it actually ends up protecting that west side."