Density Sinks Building Plan in Torrance

Voicing concerns about traffic and density, the Torrance City Council rejected a proposal to build a seven-story office building and four-story parking structure near the corner of Hawthorne and Torrance boulevards, one of the city’s busiest intersections.

After the council’s 6-1 vote against the proposal Tuesday, Duke Runnels, senior vice president of Oxford Properties Inc., said his firm would design a smaller project.

The project was to be the second phase of development on a 16-acre parcel at the northwestern edge of the Del Amo Fashion Center, near the Marriott Hotel.

The first phase of the project--the 107-foot high Computax building and parking structure--was approved by the council in 1987 on a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Bill Applegate opposing it as too bulky.

Applegate reiterated his opposition Tuesday and this time was joined by all his colleagues, except Councilman Dan Walker, who voted for the second phase of the project.

“This is not the type of structure I want to see on that site,” Applegate said. “I voted against the Computax building because it was a high-rise building with little setback, and I am opposed to a similar project.”

Walker said he favored the project because it was consistent with the first phase.

The proposed second phase consisted of a 101-foot tall office building situated 52 feet south of Torrance Boulevard, a four-level parking structure behind the office building and a one-story office building near Torrance Boulevard.

A key issue in the debate was the density of the project.

When the Computax building was approved, the council insisted that there be no more than 80 square feet of floor space for every 100 square feet of property area, or a floor area ratio of 0.80, for the entire 16-acre project.

However, the council permitted a higher density--a floor area ratio of 0.94--on the 7.3-acre parcel where the Computax building was to be situated, with the understanding that a lower density would be observed on the remainder.

But on the second phase, Oxford asked for an even higher density than on the first phase. The proposed building would have had a floor area ratio of 0.95 on a 3.3-acre parcel. The company said that a lower density on a third parcel--a floor area ratio of 0.50 on the 5.3-acre remainder of the property--would keep the floor area ratio for the entire property within the 0.80 limit.

But the council wasn’t buying this approach.

Applegate was the most vocal in opposition.

“This project is out of place,” Applegate said. “It is not consistent with the previous proposal made on the property.”

He noted that the proposed building was only six feet lower than the Computax building but would be only 52 feet from the curb, compared to the minimum 66-foot setback for the Computax building.

Applegate said he wanted to see a smaller building without a new parking structure.

“I’ll be real honest,” Councilwoman Dee Hardison said. “I wish I asked the piercing questions three years ago.” She added that the proposed project was “not what I visualized.”

The original proposal said the intent was to create a corporate, campus-like environment near the Marriott Hotel.

Mayor Katy Geissert said the new proposal shifts the lower density to “smaller and smaller” parcels.

A second concern involved traffic and parking.

Milan D. Smith, an attorney representing the Torrance Co., owners of the Del Amo mall, said the project would burden already congested intersections surrounding the mall.

“Our concern in connection with traffic is the ambience that people find when they come to the mall,” Smith said. “Historically, it is easy to get there.”