Torrance Puts Cap on Single-Family Home Sizes Despite Protests

The Torrance City Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance to limit the size of single-family houses, despite objections from about 200 builders, developers and residents who crowded the council chambers Tuesday night.

The limit, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the construction of single-family houses with a floor area greater than 60% of the lot area. The limit applies to additions or modifications, but excludes up to 400 square feet of garage area.

The council also instructed the city staff to recommend an administrative approval process to review construction plans that exceed the limit.

The council indicated that the limit would last until the city staff completes a study on new size and height limits on single-family houses. City officials said the study may continue for at least three months.

The search for new standards was prompted by residents’ complaints that oversized single-family houses being built throughout the city increase density and traffic and encroach on neighbors’ privacy, views and sunlight.

For nearly six hours Tuesday, the council heard objections from developers, builders and residents who said the size limit is too restrictive and would hurt their businesses. Several speakers accused the council of acting in haste to implement an arbitrary limit.

“On behalf of the builders and myself, I don’t believe that an emergency truly exists,” said Julie Connell, a Torrance real estate agent. “Life and property are not at risk.”

A. J. (Tony) Kriss, another Torrance real estate agent, said the city had no reason to approve the limit as an emergency ordinance and accused the council of “breach of trust” with builders, developers and real estate brokers.

He suggested that the city create a committee composed of city officials, builders, developers and real estate brokers to consider other solutions to the problem of oversized houses.

City Atty. Kenneth Nelson said the council has the right to approve an emergency ordinance, if it feels immediate action is needed. “I see no legal problem with any of the processes you are considering tonight,” Nelson told the council.

City Council members said they sympathized with the protesters but stressed the need to limit the construction of oversized houses while new standards are being studied.

“No one is saying that you can’t replace a house,” Mayor Katy Geissert told the crowd. “No one is saying that you can’t add on to a house. But we need some kind of limits.”

About half a dozen homeowners spoke in favor of the limit, saying the city needs to restrict the growing number of oversized houses being built on small lots throughout the city.

One homeowner compared living next door to an oversized house to “driving a Volkswagen on a freeway and being boxed in on all sides by semi trucks.”

Sandy Monda, a longtime resident, said the limit is a “fair and realistic standard we can all live with.”

Last week nearly 400 builders, developers and residents crowded the council chambers, most of them protesting a proposed 120-day moratorium on demolishing single-family houses to make way for new construction.

But, after nearly five hours of testimony, the City Council put off action on the proposal and instead instructed the city staff to recommend size limits and a process for reviewing construction plans.

The 60% limit recommended to the council was the result of a consensus reached at a meeting last week between representatives of the city Planning Department, the Building and Safety Department, the city attorney’s office and the city manager, according to Planning Director David Ferren.

The figure chosen for the limit “has no magic significance,” said Planner Jeff Gibson, but city officials agreed it was a reasonable figure to limit the construction of oversized houses.

27-Foot Limit

The average single-family lot in the city is between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet, city officials said. Under the limit, a house on a lot of 5,000 square feet can have no more than 3,000 square feet of floor area. A house on a lot of 6,000 square feet can have 3,600 square feet of floor area. Houses can be two stories tall with a maximum height limit of 27 feet.

Because all single-family houses are required to have a two-car garage, garages of up to 400 square feet are excluded from the limit, Gibson said.

Several developers and builders said they could accept the 60% limit, but only if it excluded enough area for a three-car garage of about 560 square feet.

Sam Burrescia, a Torrance developer, said a three-car garage is needed so that families in single-family houses are not forced to park cars in the street.

“By gosh, I think we need that three-car garage,” he told the council.

Geissert said that the limit would not prohibit three-car garages. But, she said, if builders want a three-car garage, they would have to reduce the overall area of the house.

Personal Rights

A few speakers became emotional and denounced the size limit as an encroachment on personal rights.

“The more I thought about it, quite frankly, the madder I got,” said Rick Gaunt, a Torrance builder. “To me, I believe this is the way socialism has happened in other countries.”

Tom May, a builder and Torrance resident, suggested that the council was not listening to the concerns of builders, developers and real estate brokers.

“We still live in America,” he said. “This is still a democracy.”

Several new homeowners spoke against the limit, saying it would keep them from building additions to their houses.

Women Voters

Lola Unger, president of the Torrance League of Women Voters, said the league supports the limit because it will “help protect the quality of environment by preserving open space.”

After the meeting, builders and developers continued to complain about the size limit.

“We got nailed on this three-car garage business,” Burrescia said. “I think the council took the easy way out. . . . They did not act professionally.”

Mike Mauno, a resident who has protested oversized houses in the past, said he had mixed feelings about the limit. He said he was happy the council adopted a limit, but he prefers a more restrictive one.

“I think the homeowners lost out to the developers,” he said.