Report on Project Near Del Amo Center OKd Despite Traffic Fears

The City Council approved an environmental impact report for a major development near the Del Amo Fashion Center despite a warning from mall officials that the project could generate “disastrous” traffic.

The sole council member opposing the report was William Applegate. “I don’t want us to screw up” the traffic pattern, “which is already very bad,” he said.

At issue are plans of Oxford Properties Inc. to develop 16.2 acres at the southeast corner of one of the city’s business intersections--Hawthorne and Torrance boulevards--creating a corporate campus environment surrounding the Marriott Hotel.

The first phase of the project would include a nine-story office building along Hawthorne just south of Torrance Boulevard that would be occupied by Computax Inc., a major computerized tax-processing firm with operations now scattered among several locations in the South Bay.

Plea Rejected

At Tuesday’s council meeting, officials rejected a plea from James A. Jones, president of the Torrance Co., which operates the Del Amo mall, to delay approving the report until the results of a special traffic count for December--commissioned by the mall--could be analyzed.

Jones said the traffic impact of a major development close to the mall could only be assessed realistically in December when mall stores conduct 30% to 40% of their annual business.

The environmental impact report included no holiday figures in its traffic assessment.

“There will be a tremendous impact on the shopping center,” Jones predicted. “A choking of traffic flow during this period could cause the shopping habits of retail customers to change to avoid the Del Amo area entirely and to shop at other nearby competitive shopping centers to avoid the congestion.

“If this were allowed to occur, the results could be disastrous. City revenues from sales taxes would be substantially reduced and the profitability of many stores and businesses who thrive during the Christmas season could be cast into uncertainty.”

Delay Urged

Jones repeated several times that his firm does not oppose the project, but nevertheless added, “We don’t want the project to go forward based on ignorance.” He urged the council to wait two weeks until the results of the special survey could be presented.

But several council members said Jones should have brought his traffic consultant to the meeting.

In addition, Jones argued that the traffic analysis failed to take into account mall expansion plans, which could add two major stores and a regional transportation center at the north end of the mall near the Oxford project.

Similar warnings were expressed in writing by representatives of the Marriott hotel, which would be surrounded by the project, and the Del Amo Financial Center on the other side of Hawthorne Boulevard, where the Union Bank building is located.

In a letter to the city, William B. Christian, general manager of the Del Amo Financial Center, said that although the center now includes 350,000 square feet of office space, his organization received city approval in 1965 for a development totaling 1 million square feet for growth in Los Angeles County and, in particular, in the city of Torrance are such that complete protection of the environment at the expense of community growth and well-being is not practical,” the report said.

Estimating the daily amount of air pollutants generated by project-related traffic and other sources, the report said the project would produce 2,337 pounds of carbon monoxide, 210 pounds of hydrocarbons, 531 pounds of nitrogen oxides, 91 pounds of sulfur oxides and 82 pounds of dust.

Fractional Increase

The additional pollution will amount to tiny fractions--less than one quarter of a percent--of the pollutants already generated in the South Bay, according to the report.

Additional sewage generated by the project--156,800 gallons a day--will exceed the capacity of existing sewage lines at the site and require the construction of larger lines, the report said.

Four oil wells now pumping just south of Torrance Boulevard will have to be shut down and vented to prevent the build-up of explosive gas, the report said. The wells produce about 45 gallons of oil a day.

The project is not expected to have a sizeable impact on police and fire services, according to the report.

Because the development will take place on a site surrounded by existing projects, it is not expected to lead to the sort of major increase in development that typically occurs when buildings are constructed on land distant from built-up areas.

Timing Important

Charles (Duke) Runnels, president of Oxford Properties Inc., who urged the council not to delay action on the report, said later in an interview that the requirements of Computax made it imperative to keep the project on schedule.

“They can only be moved in June or July of any year,” Runnels said. “The schedule that we are on allows them to move in that time frame. If we miss that window, they cannot relocated for additional year.”

Runnels said Computax wants to move into a new facility in 1988. “If they cannot move then, they have to move someplace because their other leases are expiring,” he said.