Moratorium on Some Condo Construction Rejected in Hawthorne

The Hawthorne City Council failed Tuesday by a single vote to adopt an emergency moratorium on the construction of three or more condominiums on single lots in residential zones.

Proposed by Mayor Betty Ainsworth, the 45-day moratorium was designed to give the city time to draft new building standards, which would increase parking and open space requirements for condominiums.

Ainsworth and Councilmen Charles (Chuck) Bookhammer and David M. York voted for the moratorium, which needs four votes to pass, and Councilwoman Ginny M. Lambert abstained. Councilman Steven Andersen was absent, but he said Wednesday that he would favor a moratorium, although he needs to be convinced an emergency measure is justified.

The council will get a chance to vote on the issue again next month. Bookhammer instructed City Atty. Michael Adamson on Tuesday to place the same ordinance on the agenda for the council’s reconsideration at its Jan. 8 meeting.

The moratorium was prompted by residents who in November and December complained at City Council and Planning Commission meetings about the increasing number of large condominium projects that have been built on small lots in the city’s multiresidential (R3) zones.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Lambert agreed that density in condominium developments is a problem, but said she feels it is unfair to adopt a moratorium without warning developers. She said an emergency moratorium would cause great financial hardship to developers who may have invested thousands of dollars to plan a project but have yet to obtain a building permit.

If the moratorium had been adopted, the Planning Department would have stopped processing all condominium construction plans with three or more units on one lot.

Bookhammer and York strongly disagreed with Lambert, saying that, if developers are warned about an impending moratorium they will rush to get building permits approved before the measure is adopted.

York said a warning would result in a “flood of building permits hitting the Building Department (in an attempt) to beat deadline.”

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Andersen said he favors a moratorium that would give staff time to study the density problems and draft new building standards. But Andersen said he is not convinced that an emergency ordinance is justified. He said that, before the council can adopt an emergency ordinance, it must prove that “there is an imminent threat to the public’s life or property.”

“That hasn’t been proven to me,” he said.

An emergency ordinance takes effect immediately, but a regular ordinance takes longer than a month, said City Manager R. Kenneth Jue.

At the council meeting Tuesday, two South Bay developers whose proposed condominium projects would be halted by the proposal, spoke out against a moratorium.

Ignacio Aliaga, a Lawndale developer who has submitted plans to build a condominium project on Jefferson Avenue, said he has already invested more than $2,000 in fees for construction plans.

He urged the council to reject the moratorium, saying it would change “all the rules of the game.”

The minimum lot size for a condominium project is 5,000 square feet.

Building standards require at least 1,600 square feet of land for every unit built on a lot of 5,000 to 15,000 square feet; 1,500 square feet of land for every unit built on a lot of 15,000 to 30,000 square feet, and 1,400 square feet of land for every unit built on a lot of 30,000 square feet or larger.

Each unit is required to have at least 200 square feet of private open space, such as an adjacent patio.