Gardena : Petition Drive Is Successful

Homeowners who oppose plans for an 84-unit apartment complex on Budlong Avenue between 141st Place and 141st Street have collected enough signatures on a petition they have been circulating, City Clerk May Doi said this week.

The residents needed to collect 1,907 signatures--10% of the city’s registered voters--to make the petition valid. The petition contained 2,619 signatures, and 2,234 of those were of qualified voters, Doi said.

Because the petition is valid, the City Council will have to reconsider its decision to rezone the area from single-family to multifamily use. The council had approved the rezoning in a 3-2 vote in August.

The council is scheduled to consider the matter at its Nov. 12 meeting. The council can rescind its vote, present the referendum in a special election, or put it on the city’s municipal ballot next April, according to City Manager Kenneth Landau. There will be no construction until the matter is resolved.

The spokesman for Bidamar Corp. of Glendale, developer of the apartment project, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.