Torrance to Study School Site for Senior Housing

The Torrance City Council has asked the city staff to study the possibility of leasing or buying part of the former Columbia School site to develop housing for senior citizens.

The council, acting as the city Redevelopment Agency, made the request this week after seven residents said they would favor such housing on the five-acre lot on 186th Street near Hawthorne Boulevard.

Councilmen Bill Applegate and Dan Walker voted against the request, saying it would be wiser for the city to remove some old, dilapidated hotels in Old Downtown Torrance and replace them with senior citizen housing.

Describing one hotel as a “pigsty,” Applegate said: “I would like the city to get two for one for our money. I’d like to get rid of the blighted areas and get some senior housing there.”

A staff report on how the city could increase housing for the elderly ranked the school site seventh among 12 sites considered. The top three sites are in the Old Downtown area, though the report did not recommend razing existing hotels.

Mayor Katy Geissert rejected Walker’s and Applegate’s suggestion as too costly.

The Torrance Unified School District owns the former Columbia School site, which is zoned for public use, and has asked the council to rezone it for high-density housing that it plans to build and operate there, with the profits going into the school budget.

The council has questioned the high-density zoning idea, and some members say they fear that the district may put subsidized housing there, despite repeated assurances from the district that it is not interested in building such a project.

The City Council is scheduled to consider rezoning the five acres at the end of this month. The Planning Commission has recommended medium-density zoning, with the possibility of using some of the parcel for senior citizen housing.

Wait for Money

The staff report said the city will not have the money to acquire and develop any sites for senior citizen housing until at least 1991, when taxes from three city redevelopment projects are expected to raise at least $3.5 million.

The report said it would cost between $1.5 million and $3 million to purchase and develop a one-acre project with 56 housing units. The amount would depend on whether the site is ready for building or needs demolition and whether residents need to relocated.

Echoing the sentiments of most of her colleagues, Mayor Katy Geissert said the former school site is well suited for senior housing because it is a block away from a large supermarket and near El Nido Park.

“It would be a lost opportunity if we don’t look into the Columbia School site,” she said.

Geissert rejected the suggestion that the city consider building senior housing on hotel sites in the Old Downtown area, saying it would be too expensive to relocate property owners and tenants.

Support From Groups

The council’s action was supported by Ursel Nolte, chairman of the Torrance Senior Citizens Council, who said the school site would appeal to seniors because it is near the park.

Lynitta Schaffer, a spokeswoman for the Torrance League of Women Voters, said that group also supports the development of senior citizen housing on the site.

“I would hate to see the city miss a great opportunity,” she said.

But Chaim Warzman, who lives near the school site on Grevillea Avenue, said such a project would increase parking and traffic problems in the neighborhood.

“I don’t have anything against senior citizens; I will be one someday,” he said. “But the area is already too dense.”

Bordered by Railroad

City planner Mike Bihn told the council that the school site was not ranked higher because it is bordered on the west by an active railroad line, and it is not within walking distance of a shopping center or bus stop.

However, Nolte said the location would not be a problem because the city’s new Dial-a-Taxi service allows the elderly to travel cheaply anywhere in the city.

The top-ranked sites were a commercial and industrial block at Van Ness and Darlington avenues, a mobile home park in the 1800 block of Torrance Boulevard, and a volunteer center and parking lot at Torrance Boulevard and Cravens Avenue.

The staff said these sites are best because they are near shopping centers and transportation, and because their development would eliminate blight in Old Downtown.

The next highest-ranked sites, are a four-unit apartment building and a vacant lot at 1671-75 Gramercy Ave., single-family homes at 1528-34 Marcelina Ave., and a baseball field and community garden at Laguna Seco Park on Ocean Avenue.