SEAL BEACH : Neighbors Looking Out for Tower

The prospect of an unwelcome neighbor has once again galvanized supporters of Surfside’s mammoth redwood water tower house, the outlandish beachside landmark that has come to represent this community’s eclectic architectural heritage.

Twice in as many months, a developer has proposed new construction for a vacant lot next door to the 52-year-old structure. In August, Surfside and nearby Sunset Beach residents mounted a vocal campaign opposing a plan to build two three-story condominiums. After a heated public meeting, the idea was scrapped.

But now, the developer is back with a new plan to construct a quick-oil-change shop and carwash on the land--a prospect that repels some residents all the more.

“I’m horrified,” said Virginia Strain, a 48-year resident of Sunset Beach, summing up the feeling expressed by several residents of this uncommon community, where homey one-bedroom beach cottages stand beside imposing four-story mansions. An oil-change shop “is so inappropriate for the area. It just destroys the historical integrity” of the tower, she said.

The decision on whether Santa Barbara developer Jeff Overeem’s latest proposal is blasphemous or balanced will ultimately rest with Seal Beach city officials.

Overeem did not return phone calls to his home and office. Residents expect him to contend that the community will gain more than it loses by having a service-providing, tax-generating business next to a structure that only a decade ago came close to a meeting with the wrecking ball.

Located a block from the beach, the tower was built in 1940 by the Santa Fe Tank and Pipe Co. to store water for the area.

Graffiti-laden and set for demolition in 1980, the tower was purchased for about $60,000 by college professor George Armstrong and anesthesiologist Robert Odell, who transformed it into a $2-million, three-story luxury home. On a clear day, the views from the tower extend to Catalina Island and beyond.

The tower’s rags-to-riches history has become almost as famous as the 87-foot structure itself, and some residents saw the condominiums as unworthy neighbors for their landmark.

The biggest complaint was that the condos would distort the tower’s look by blocking the view of its cross-braced wooden superstructure. Though a portion of the stilts and the entire drum-shaped house would still be visible, Strain, a strong opponent of both Overeem proposals, and others said that the condos would “visually lower” the tower and “change the look and feel” of the area.

“This has to do with maintaining the character of our community,” said local resident Bill Padilla. “This is such a unique part of the community that it would be wrong to cover part of it up with another building. There’s nothing else like it.”

Some residents opposed the initial condo plan in hopes that the developer would propose a design more to their liking. Odell, one of the tower’s owners, and civic activist Charles Antos even suggested that someone build a small office building on the site modeled after a fire station once located there.

If two condos were unacceptable, some residents believe an oil-change shop is completely out of the question. Beyond the obvious aesthetic concerns, opponents say the drive-through facility would make the area’s already serious traffic problems even worse.

“It would destroy the beauty of the place,” Strain said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Nonsense or not, Overeem is serious enough about his proposal to bring it before the Seal Beach Planning Commission this month.

The land in question is zoned for commercial, not residential use. The proposed oil-change shop would be 19 feet shorter than the condominiums proposed for the same site, and would block less of the tower.

Meanwhile, Odell said he hopes that the controversy won’t hurt his four-year quest to sell the tower, which he now owns in full after buying out his partner in 1988. Odell is asking $2.3 million for the home and is puzzled why no buyer has been found.