Protests Cause Torrance to Delay Medical Office Project

An outpouring of neighborhood concern about traffic congestion has posed a potentially major obstacle to construction of a $17-million medical office complex opposite Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.

After hearing more than two hours of public testimony--all of it criticizing the plan--the Torrance City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday night to a procedural step that sends the project back to the city’s Planning Commission for further review.

It was the first test of the council’s resolve on development issues since last week’s election, in which the reelection of three incumbents was seen as an endorsement of the council’s moderate stance on growth and traffic issues.

Although the council agreed to move the project along in the planning process, there was ample warning to the hospital administrators that the council is concerned about traffic problems associated with the proposed pair of three-story medical buildings and adjoining two-level 460-car parking garage. The project is expected to generate an 4,850 car trips per day.

Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert said she was concerned that medical offices generate more traffic than other types of development.

She added that “the precedent-setting nature of this project” warrants a thorough review of the potential traffic impact if other light manufacturing buildings near the hospital at Torrance Boulevard and Earl Street are converted to medical offices.

The Little Company of Mary project calls for 93,000 square feet of medical offices for 70 to 80 doctors opposite the hospital on Earl Street between Emerald and Maricopa streets. The hospital acquired the 4.3-acre property for close to $4 million.

John L. Eubanks, president of the Southwood Homeowners Assn., led a parade of speakers who protested that the project, coupled with other office projects in the area, would generate too much traffic.

Eubanks told council members that traffic along Torrance Boulevard “already is very bad in the rush hour” and “adding another 5,000 cars cannot make it any better.”

“There is just so much traffic that the streets can hold, and if you’re at that level, something has to give,” Eubanks said.

Dorothy Miller, a neighborhood resident, said the traffic has gotten so thick at one intersection across Torrance Boulevard from the hospital that motorists making a left turn have to “pray and move quickly.”

“We have a bad situation now,” Miller said. “It’s only going to get worse.”

Worst Level of Service

Key intersections in the area--Torrance and Hawthorne boulevards and Torrance Boulevard and Anza Avenue--are already operating at the “F” level of service, the worst level of service as designated by traffic engineers. Miller asked whether the next level of service is “G” for “gridlock” or “GH” for “hopelessly gridlocked.”

“We won’t be able to get to and from our homes,” Miller said.

Hospital President Jim Lester said six meetings have been held with residents in an effort to resolve their concerns.

“It’s true that adding 4,800 trip ends is significant,” Lester said, but he told the council the extra trips would be spaced evenly throughout the day and not concentrated in the peak rush-hour periods.

Lester added that the project could have been three times as dense as the one proposed. “We’ve scaled back the project significantly,” he said.