Whittier Puts Buildings on Hold : Council to Examine Growth Issue Before Allowing More Strip Malls

The Whittier City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on permits for new, small retail developments and apartment buildings while it examines standards that could determine the course of future growth in the city.

The moratorium on retail developments of one acre or less is aimed at strip malls--those corner shopping plazas noted for doughnuts, dry cleaning, fast food, video rentals and manicures.

“Nobody needs these things anymore,” Council member Helen Rahder said.

“It’s better to have a few good (developments) than 100 sleazy things,” she said, prompting applause from dozens of supporters at the Tuesday night council meeting. Rahder and Bob Henderson, the council’s newest members, ran for office on a platform of controlled growth.

“The purpose of the moratorium,” Henderson said, “is not to stop building but to set standards.”

“We’ve got to allow free enterprise,” Council member Myron Claxton countered. “We can’t restrict that.”

“I don’t see how what you want can be done in 45 days,” said council member Robert Woehrmann, who, like the other incumbents, worries that limits on development could stifle Whittier’s growth.

Even a moratorium, he said, “would still make an impact on the ownership and development community.”

Later, he said it is not the council’s business to determine how many pizza parlors could open in Whittier.

Despite their misgivings, the other council members joined Rahder and Henderson in passing the moratorium unanimously.

The council also approved a similar freeze on the building of apartments. Henderson said developers should build apartments that blend with established neighborhoods rather than buildings that “might as well be a warehouse.”

The new standards are likely to permit fewer apartments per parcel and require developers to provide more parking, landscaping and open space.

City Manager Thomas Mauk said drafting comprehensive guidelines for new apartments would take at least three months. Under city law, a moratorium can last only as long as 45 days without a public hearing.

Setting standards for apartments does not promise to be nearly as contentious as the struggle to control the future of retail development, in particular the proliferation of strip malls.

One development that will be placed on immediate hold is a proposed Blockbuster Video store at the corner of a strip mall at Beverly and Norwalk boulevards. The congested intersection already contains three small shopping plazas and is next to a residential area.

“I don’t think any of us would look at that development with pride,” Henderson said.

Because such plazas occupy less than an acre, they escape review processes in place for larger developments. Henderson said another strip mall, at Hadley Street and Milton Avenue, might never have survived such a review. He noted that the narrow parking lot contained far too few parking spaces for the number of customers the tenants would need to remain in business.

“That place is a piece of work,” he said.

“Things are sliding through that weren’t meant to be,” Rahder said. “With so many vacant lots since the earthquake, there’s a chance of something nasty going in.”

Since the October, 1987, earthquake and aftershock, there have been 156 residential demolitions, at least 65 directly attributable to quake damage, according to planning department records. Wreckers also knocked down 138 commercial buildings. Of these demolitions, 68 became necessary because of quake damage.

In other cases, owners tore down buildings rather than face the high cost of repair. And some developers also took advantage of emergency demolition measures to clear off structures.

Rahder said the strip malls endanger the city’s own rehabilitation master plan because they saturate the market with retail office space and compete with downtown areas that the council seeks to revitalize. “We’re biting off our nose to spite our face,” she said.

A leading mini-mall developer sees it differently. “I’m curious why a city that has had an earthquake would not want to rebuild its tax base,” said Samuel Bachner, the president of the Los Angeles-based La Mancha Development.

His company specializes in building small shopping plazas, to the amount of $200 to $300 million a year, Bachner said. “I think it’s going to continue to grow as California grows. People have a need for goods and services.”

Bachner said the malls provide jobs, conveniences, affordable retail space and even identity to an area. He sees no problem with quality control. “They all get what they ask for,” he said.