Interim Building Standards Expire

The city of Lawndale’s interim development standards for apartments expired Monday, resurrecting a set of old standards that council members and others have long complained are too lenient.

The interim standards were first imposed under an emergency ordinance last October and then extended for 10 1/2 months to give city officials a chance to develop permanent building guidelines for the construction of apartments.

But John Chapman, Lawndale planning director, said his department has been too understaffed to develop a set of permanent guidelines, and he recommended that the council extend the interim standards another year.

The council voted 2 to 1 Monday to extend the interim standards, with Councilmen Larry Rudolph and William Johnson voting in favor and Councilwoman Carol Norman dissenting. Mayor Harold E. Hofmann was ill. A fifth council seat is vacant.

But because state law requires a four-fifths vote by the council to extend an emergency ordinance of this type, the council’s decision is invalid, Assistant City Atty. Bob Owen said.

Under the interim apartment standards, developers were required to build larger parking spaces and more guest parking spots and to incorporate more open space into their projects.

Except for a few apartment projects that were already pending when the interim development standards were imposed, no new apartment buildings have been built in the last year, Chapman said.