Condos to Be Built on 2 Parcels Near Del Amo : Torrance: The City Council approves the agreement, which will replace one calling for commercial development.

Two parcels of land at the Park Del Amo project will be developed as condominiums rather than commercial buildings under agreements reached with the Torrance City Council early Wednesday morning.

City Council members listened to a parade of 32 speakers during a five-hour hearing before voting 5-0, with Councilmen George Nakano and Bill Applegate abstaining, to alter the 1983 development agreement governing the land.

Decisions about the exact size and appearance of the new residential developments and whether any commercial project can be built on a portion of either site were postponed to the council’s Feb. 20 meeting.

Two plots of land are affected by the new agreement: a 7.45-acre rectangular site on Crenshaw Boulevard south of Plaza Del Amo and a 10.81-acre parcel on Sepulveda Boulevard across from Hickory Avenue.

The sites originally were designated for commercial use, but a weak market for office space and a strong demand for homes prompted Watt Industries, Park Del Amo’s residential developer, to request the change.

Watt officials sought permission to build 166 condominiums on the Sepulveda site, but dozens of residents of South Bayport--an existing Watt project immediately north of the parcel--protested that the development would come too close to their homes and would be far more dense than the commercial building that would have been allowed there.

Council members agreed to limit development on the site to 131 units and to require a setback from existing buildings of at least 50 feet. Mayor Katy Geissert said she hoped Watt would create “a usable greenbelt” in the setback, possibly a small golf course.

The council did not set a specific limit on the Crenshaw Boulevard site, where Watt wants to build 52 detached townhouses.

The development agreement allowing construction of the 139-acre Park Del Amo was approved in December, 1983, after a long-running battle between developers and environmentalists over preservation of Madrona Marsh, one of the last rain-fed marshes in Southern California.

The agreement gave developers the right to build 1,482 residential units and 850,000 square feet of offices in exchange for giving 34.5 acres of marshland to the city.

Only 1,256 condominiums were built on the land designated for residential use, primarily because the units have been larger than originally planned. A Marriott Courtyard hotel and several office buildings have been built on the project’s commercial land.

Sam Suitt, a Madrona Marsh supporter who participated in the negotiations for the original Park Del Amo development agreement, asked the City Council “to just say no” to amending the deal.

“Reopening the agreement is like opening Pandora’s box,” he said. “You have a legally binding contract. . . . (Changing it) would be a breach of contract and a breach of faith with the people of this city.”

Suitt said amending the agreement “would encourage a lawsuit by the homeowners.”

But city officials defended the switch from commercial to residential development as a good way to prevent further traffic congestion.

“Studies show that commercial development generates more trips than residential,” Transportation Director Art Horkay said.

Councilman Dan Walker said he believes city officials back in 1983 “would have been doing back flips” had Watt initially sought residential development on the two sites.