City Puts Limits on Lot-Splitting
With the lukewarm support of some South Torrance residents, the Torrance City Council unanimously approved an ordinance intended to limit density by making it difficult to split large lots and develop them as smaller parcels.
The ordinance passed last week requires that lots for all single-family houses be no smaller than the average lot size within a 300-foot radius. The ordinance, which will take effect 30 days after a second reading by the City Council, was drafted after residents of the Seaside Ranchos and Southeast Torrance neighborhoods said that developers are threatening to increase density and change the character of their neighborhoods by splitting lots.
About 40 residents, most from the Seaside Ranchos neighborhood, attended the City Council meeting to express their concern over lot-splitting.
In the Seaside Ranchos neighborhood, there are about 60 parcels totaling approximately 45 acres that are prime candidates for lot-splitting, according to city Associate Planner Janet Pryor.
In the last two years, 122 houses have been built in Torrance, about half them the result of a lot split, Pryor said.
Ed Liebersbach, a resident of W. 230th Place and president of the Southeast Torrance Homeowners Assn., told the council that he supported the ordinance but was leery that it would not be strict enough.
City Planning Director David Ferrin acknowledged that the new ordinance would not keep developers from dividing lots, but said that it would most likely discourage it.
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