The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 106, No. 20 - May 18, 2017 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................16 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Entertainment......................8 Legals............................ 14,15 Obituaries.............................2 Pets......................................18 Police Reports.....................6 Real Estate.........10-13,19,20 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 71˚/58˚ Saturday Sunny 74˚/61˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 75˚/60˚ Ed! Gets $420,000 from Chevron A large group of attendees enjoyed an evening of food, wine and entertainment at last Friday’s Ed! Gala at Chevron Park. The event to benefit local schools featured tastings and drinks from premier restaurants, live and silent auctions and a live DJ performance. In this photo, Chevron presents a check to the El Segundo Ed Foundation. From L-R: Carol Pirsztuk, Rod Spackman, Lily Craig, Dr. Melissa Moore, Neil Cadman, Dr. Bill Watkins. Photo by Marcy Dugan. For more photos, see page 9. City Council Looks at Downtown Residential Units, Gets Budget Update By Brian Simon On Tuesday night, the El Segundo City Council had its first reading of a proposed amendment to the Downtown Specific Plan that would do away with the longstanding requirement that residential units above businesses must be live/work spaces. Planning and Building Safety Director Sam Lee provided a historical overview, noting that prior to 2000 the City allowed upper-level residential units in the downtown district—but then prohibited them in 2000 when adopting a new specific plan. The Council in 2001 voted to permit the upstairs residential units again, but only if the business owner or operator lives and works on the premises. However, the action proved prohibitive with only six residential units built downtown in the last 16 years. Planning Manager Gregg McClain outlined the problems with current requirements— including the difficulty in leasing or selling existing live/work units; the hardship of moving a household and then the business failing; and the lack of apparent market demand to build new live/work units. Additionally, the demand for downtown residential units remains high and unmet. McClain also noted the benefits of having residential in downtown--stating that it adds customers, enhances safety by having more eyes on the street, reduces car dependency, and could stimulate new commercial developments. The proposed amendment, recently recommended by the Planning Commission, seeks to uncouple the residential from the commercial while still prohibiting housing units on the first floor. It asks for no change to residential density and then to require 0.5 parking spaces per unit (which would essentially round off to one spot and be paid into the parking in-lieu fund). The Council will vote on the item next month (with Carol Pirsztuk recusing herself due to a conflict in having a business location in downtown). Initial Council discussions indicated mixed opinions on the parking component as Fuentes stated her preference for a two-space requirement given the lack of parking downtown—and Boyles opining that See City Council, page 14 Planning Commission Forwards Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance to Council By Liz Spear For the El Segundo Planning Commission, the fourth look at assembling a new ordinance to address a new state law on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the city’s R-1 zone (single-family residential) was the charm. On a unanimous 5-0 vote last Thursday, the commissioners approved forwarding the proposed new law to the El Segundo City Council for examination of what has been a much-deliberated topic (The Planning Commission held four public hearings.). Though the proposed ordinance only allows ADUs that are attached to a home or garage, the group did elect to provide the Council with information from the public hearings. That maneuver came about after Commissioner Scot F. Nicol asked if there was a way to present the Council with an ordinance that would offer a line that could be included or excluded, presumably to allow detached ADUs to be included, in the resolution. Said City Attorney King, “What I would recommend is that you adopt a resolution recommending an ordinance and then what we can do is we can alert them [City Council] that there was this discussion and they will have all the minutes of all the speakers [from the public hearings] and we can highlight this issue and we can say, ‘You know, there was discussion about whether there’s any impact at all,’ and then they can direct staff.” King also noted that the Council See Planning Commission, page 3
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