Lawndale Puts 45-Day Hold on Building of Apartments

In response to the city manager’s complaint that some new apartment buildings in Lawndale look like “shoe boxes on stilts,” the City Council has given tentative approval to a 45-day moratorium on apartment construction.

The council voted unanimously Thursday to have city staff write a moratorium ordinance for its consideration at the Oct. 19 City Council meeting.

The moratorium would take effect Oct. 20 and end Dec. 3, giving the city time to write building standards that would increase parking and open space requirements for apartments, city officials said.

Standards from the 1940s

City Manager Jim Arnold said he became concerned about the city’s building standards after reviewing dozens of apartment building plans. He said the city’s construction standards for apartment buildings are based on Los Angeles County building codes approved during the 1940s.

Responding to pleas from an architect, two developers and a real estate broker who spoke at the meeting, council members said they intend to exempt from the moratorium all apartment building plans currently being processed by the city.

Arnold said he did not know how many plans would be exempted.

“I’d hate to see you rush into something that is really unfair to people” who have invested money into construction plans, said Dan Withee, a Hermosa Beach developer.

City Atty. David Aleshire said the city Department of Planning and Building will continue to accept construction plans until the moratorium begins but may not process the plans until after the moratorium ends.

‘Marginal Appearance’

Arnold told the council that he requested the study for new standards because some new apartment buildings that have been built on small lots “are extremely marginal as to their appearance and amenities.”

Councilman Larry Rudolph said he supports the moratorium and the study of new standards because “for every good (apartment building) we get three bad ones. . . . We’ve got to stop it now.”

Earlier this month, the Planning Commission voted 3 to 1 to recommend the moratorium to the council.

The moratorium would affect apartments in R2, two-family residential; R3, medium-density, and R4, high-density zones. City officials said most of the apartments have been built in R3 and R4 zones, which encompass 145 acres or almost 12% of the city’s land.

Those multifamily zones are generally found along the city’s main thoroughfares, such as Hawthorne Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue, city officials said.

Arnold, who complained that some new apartment buildings are simply block-like structures built over open garages, said he would like the new apartment standards to more closely resemble those for condominiums.

Apartments in the R2 zones have no open space requirements, but apartments in the R3 and R4 zones require 120 square feet of open space for each unit, city officials said. Open space includes balconies, patios, court yards and pools.

On the other hand, condominiums in any zone are required to have 200 square feet of open space for each unit.

Apartments in any zone are required to have two parking spaces for each unit and one guest space for every five units. Condominiums must also provide two parking spaces for each unit, but are required to have two guest spaces for every five units.