The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 6, No. 12 - March 17, 2016 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................9 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Film Review..........................4 Legals....................................8 Real Estate...................10-12 Sports....................................5 TerriAnn in Torrance..........6 Weekend Forecast Torrance Area Chamber: We’re #1 The Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce took first place honors at the annual Western Association of Chamber Executives (WACE) conference held this year in San Francisco, CA. WACE comprises a pool of 850 chamber professionals in 17 western states and Canada. The Torrance Chamber was honored for their Chamber Weekly and The Advocate newsletters and also received the 2015 Core Competency Program of the Year award for their weekly column Out and About with President & CEO Donna Duperron. Pictured are TACC staff including (L to R) Brandon Matson, Donna Duperron, Terri Mamiya, Shatera Luna, Maria Applegate, Brandon Smith, and Kelly Hernandez. Photo provided by Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce. • Council Approves Drafting Permit Procedures for Garage Sales By Cristian Vasquez Members of the Torrance City Council said yes to a recommendation of the Community Development Director Jeffrey W. Gibson to review and draft a permit process, as well as recommending that the process become part of a garage sale ordinance. The council’s approval, 6-1 with Councilman Kurt Weideman voting no, will bring back the ordinance in addition to providing enforcement officers clear direction as to what the requirements are for a garage sale. At the moment the city does not have any regulations relating to garage sales or issues relating to them such as permits, tracking the amount sales hosted a year unless there is a public complaint against a sales host. “Historically, staff has addressed complaints of excessive garage sales by enforcing them as retail businesses operating from residential property,” states the staff report signed by Gibson. “This practice has been enough to gain compliance in the majority of cases. However, without a specific code section, it is extremely difficult to take prosecutorial action against more egregious offenders.” In 2012 staff began the process of exploring options to regulate garage sales. During the April 5, 2012 Environmental Quality and Energy Conservation Commission meeting there were several guidelines introduced to regulate garage sales, such as limiting the number of sales per year, use of signs, sales hours and rules for sales on multi-family properties. At that time it was recommended that staff not proceed with item as they wanted to maintain more opportunities for residents to host garage sales without regulations, but it was recommended that if rules be established, that residents be able to obtain all rules online, as well as advertise said sales on the website. “Staff revisited survey information collected in 2012 and expanded the survey to collect information from sixteen cities in or near the South Bay area,” states the staff report. “Staff found that fifteen of the cities had garage sale ordinances in place or had written guidelines for regulating garage sales.” Of those 16 cities, 14 regulate garage sales, 11 require a permit and two cities have free garage sale permits to entice people to hold such sales. Fees ranged from $3-$30. Many of the cities also addressed signage issues in terms of size and placement, along with defining what types of items can be sold at garage sales. The staff report presented at the meeting defined a garage ale as “items for sale that consist of personal property which is owned, utilized and maintained by individual or members of the residence acquired in the normal course of living in or maintaining a residence.” This will prevent the use of garage sales for the purpose of selling items obtained for resale or any sort of food items. The report also recommended that garage sale permits be valid for two consecutive days and for a household to only be eligible for two permits per calendar year. “Several jurisdictions allow exceptions to the number of garage sales allowed per year for inclement weather. Staff proposes the City’s process allow exceptions under the following conditions,” states the staff report. “If a garage sale is not held on the dates for which the permit is issued or is terminated during the first day of the sale due to inclement weather, the resident may contact the Community Development Department to amend the dates for the garage sale, within seven days from the date of the original sale, as long as the sale is conducted at the same location.” Sign regulations recommended in the staff report require that signs not “detract from the residential character of neighborhoods.” One sign will be allowed, no more than nine-square feet in size and no more than four-feet tall. The sign can only be placed on the property hosting the garage sale and are not allowed on sidewalks, parkways, public-right-of-ways, telephone poles, street signs, traffic signs or street trees. In addition, signs can only be displayed during sales hours, determined to be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Setting rules on signs is expected to reduce a form of littering in the city. “Currently the Community Development Department contract with a company to remove illegally placed signage from the public-right-of-way on a bi-monthly basis,” states the staff report. “In 2015, the contractor removed approximately four hundred “garage/ yard sale” and “moving” signs.” Also recommended was the establishment of a garage sale link on the city website, in addition to providing access to the “garage sale application form, a summary of garage sale regulations, information regarding large item pick ups, contact information of potential non-profit donation and recycling location and resources.” • Friday Mostly Sunny 66˚/55˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 70˚/57˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 68˚/56˚
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