Hermosa Beach OKs New Zoning to Limit Density

The Hermosa Beach City Council this week approved zoning changes that officials say will continue a decades-long process of reducing housing density and providing more off-street parking.

Most property owners will be affected by the measure, which restricts what they can build and how they can use their land.

The process began in 1979 when the council adopted a General Plan that led to extensive downzoning and new standards on building height, size and setbacks from property lines. As a result, most structures in the city became nonconforming.

Planning Director Michael Schubach said the zoning changes--approved in a single ordinance after a public hearing Tuesday night--are another step in bringing nonconforming properties into compliance with the General Plan’s new zoning standards. Generally, it subjects existing structures to the more restrictive rules by setting limits on how much they can be expanded or torn down.

Built Essentially New Homes

Under the previous ordinance, Schubach said, expansions and demolitions were virtually uncontrolled. To avoid more stringent standards on new construction, he said, some property owners applied for remodeling or expansion permits, then gutted the interiors of existing structures and built essentially new homes.

“If you buy into the idea of reduced density and more parking,” said Councilman Chuck Sheldon, “then you have to accept the fact that what exists now can’t be perpetuated forever. It has to change.”

To remain within the new rules for remodeling or expansion, a maximum of 30% of a nonconforming residential structure can be demolished; then owners can expand their buildings up to 50% if they provide at least two parking spaces. Both limits can be increased with the approval of the Planning Commission.

The changes also affect expansions or remodeling when the land use is nonconforming. In the case of three units in an area now zoned for two, expansions of up to 50% are allowed, but demolitions are limited to 10% unless the Planning Commission allows more.

Several speakers at the public hearing Tuesday said the new ordinance would make it impossible to expand existing houses on small lots because of parking and setback requirements.

“There are trade-offs between parking and living space that aren’t being considered,” said architect Jerry Compton. “You’re saying that a house can’t grow with the family.”

The new rules, he said, will force growing families to move out of the city.

However, in unanimously approving the zoning changes, council members said the city has to start somewhere on the long road to a less-dense community.

Councilman Jim Rosenberg noted that the changes will be “set in clay, not concrete,” allowing for further revisions if the new rules prove too stringent.