Author: Clint Paulson

Clad in orange T-shirts opponents of a proposed car wash at 2355 and 2375 Sepulveda secured a huge victory on Tuesday night as the Council voted unanimously in their favor. The “no car wash” contingency had organized in recent weeks and showed up in force on Tuesday with many of them speaking at the meeting raising concerns about noise and traffic. The group had also circulated a petition that garnered a 100 signatures, held a rally over the weekend, and even funded a full page ad in the Daily Breeze.

Brian Burrescia, who helped organize the opposition effort, said the community was at a tipping point due to other approved projects in the area such as the TUSD aquatic center and the recently approved 18 townhome Anastasi project. Afterward he wanted to thank the Council and especially the residents who had rallied in support of the cause, “The residents are the heroes of the evening and the City Council delivered their voices, their passion, and their message.”

The victory came at the expense of Frank and Susan Startup who were dealt a devastating blow by the controversial decision as it thwarted the sale of their property. The Startup’s had previously worked for 44 years in order sustain a locksmith and bicycle shop at the site and were desperately counting on proceeds from the sale in order to fund their retirement and medical expenses.

Susan had previously made an emotional plea before the Council on June 26th. 90 year old Frank was too ill to attend that meeting, but despite a recent stroke was able to join Susan in appearing before the Council this time around. Due to the effects of the stroke, Frank spoke from a wheelchair and his comments were not audible enough to be heard. He did, however, provide a written letter to the Council which stated in part:

For decades, I served the Torrance community working very hard, showing financial discipline and saving every penny so I could buy the subject property … Owning the bike shop was the pride of my life … In 1973, when I purchased my property, there were no homes behind my property … When the initial homes began building … those homes were “subordinate” to the original zoning (M2) and were required to obtain special permitting.  But today, these owners are trying to revise history, and make my property “subordinate” to their property.

If you look at the essence of what the neighbors are saying, they are actually saying: It’s OK to shaft the Startup family, just don’t shaft me … There is an approximately $800,000 to $1,000,000 decrease in the value of my property if this buyer is not able to purchase the property … ask yourself: why should an owner who owned this property for 44 years, before homes were even there, have the value of his family’s life line stripped away, an owner who spent a life time preparing this asset for his family and subsequent generations.

The City initially blocked the project at its June 26th meeting, even though the property is zoned M-2 which expressly allows car wash uses by right, by adopting an urgency ordinance imposing a moratorium on all car wash developments in the City. After that initial meeting, City officials worked with the buyer, Alex Arash, to carve out an exception to the moratorium for his car wash. That agreement, which imposed several conditions on the project, looked headed for approval at the Council’s July 10th meeting. That hearing was postponed, however, in order to allow more time for the matter to be heard.

Alex Arash and his team of representatives presented detailed arguments and provided evidence in rebuttal to each one of the concerns brought forward by the residents. That evidence included a professionally completed Noise Control Plan and Traffic Study. In the end, it was not enough to convince the Council.

Councilmember Goodrich said that he was split 50/50 about the decision as he had heard good arguments on both sides, but that ultimately when deciding questions such as this he felt that he should side with the residents.

After the meeting, Arash initially expressed regret about the Startup’s saying, “I feel bad about the Startup’s. The Startup’s really got hit.” He later expressed deep frustration with City officials, “The City says it’s business friendly, it’s not … the City of Torrance is not about following rules and regulations, the City is about doing political favors.”

Despite the significant setback, Arash is not quite ready to give up on the project as he has already invested upwards of $250,000 that he stands to lose if the car wash never materializes. He is currently exploring legal options.

The Council’s decision disallowing the car wash came on the heels of a controversial decision made about another development in the same neighborhood. The Council did not side with the residents on that day when they approved the 18 townhome Anastasi project by a 4 to 3 vote on June 19th. Those approving that project included Goodrich as well as Mayor Furey, and Councilmembers Rizzo and Weideman. Furey, Goodrich, and Weideman had all received substantial donations from Anastasi in their recent re-election campaigns.

Arash and the Startup’s did not donate to any recent candidates for office in Torrance.

Much to the dismay of the Torrance Teachers Association (TTA), the TUSD School Board adopted a resolution at its meeting last night that imposed new terms and conditions of employment for Torrance teachers. The conditions included a 1% salary increase which applied retroactively to January 1, 2018 and a new pre-Labor Day work calendar that will commence with the 2019-20 school year. The pre-Labor Day calendar will have teachers beginning work on August 22nd in 2019 versus a September 4th start date slated for 2018. Teachers last day will move from June 21st to June 12th.

The move came after the District and TTA had exhausted negotiation impasse proceedings which included formal mediation and a fact-finding hearing before a three member panel held on May 4, 2018. The parties also met on June 4, 2018 in a post fact-finding negotiation session, but remained at an impasse after that meeting.

TUSD’s decision to impose the salary increase is consistent with the fact-finding panel’s recommendation. That panel also recommended that TUSD implement a pre-Labor Day calendar beginning this fall in 2018. The School Board, however, opted to delay implementation of the new calendar to 2019-20 instead of 2018-19 in order to give families, students, and staff time to plan for the new calendar.

TTA forcefully condemned the decision. TTA President Deborah Tabush commented at the meeting that:

“The Resolution undermines the fundamental trust between TUSD and its employees. It is a violation of the law … It is not only unscrupulous but damaging to any goodwill that remains between TUSD and its employees.”

In a follow-up message, TTA posted the below to its Facebook page today:

Last night at the July 16th TUSD School Board Meeting, the District made an unprecedented move to impose a low ball salary increase and school calendar for 2019-20. Although the salary increase was part of the Fact Finding panel’s recommendation, the 2019-20 calendar was not. In a clearly political move and without even the opportunity to negotiate in the new bargaining year, the TUSD School Board unanimously voted to ignore the Fact Finding panel’s recommendation and impose the change on teachers without dialogue. Although we recognize TUSD’s desire to change the calendar, this was not about that at all. This was clearly a political move and a power play to shut teachers and other employees down.  What has happened to the TUSD we all knew and loved?#Vote Them Out!

Board member Mark Steffen, who also announced he would not be running for re-election this fall, summarized his feelings by stating:

“This is sad moment that the relationship has broken down this way. It didn’t need to happen but it did. This will take years to repair the damage and the trust and the relationship between the District and the union.”

He later suggested the District might want to bring in a counselor to help the parties begin to repair the relationship.

The resolution passed by unanimous vote with no other Board members besides Steffen offering any comments on the subject at the meeting.

The City Council crushed the hopes of Susan Startup who appeared at the Council meeting last Tuesday to request that the City allow the sale of a commercial property, that she owns with her husband, to a developer who intended to build a car wash on the site.

In an emotional appearance, she pled with the council by stating, “This is our retirement. If you take that away from us, we don’t have nothing.” Near tears, she later said, “We really need this, more than you realize.”

Susan also submitted a letter to the Council prior to the meeting as she was concerned she might not be able to attend due to the failing health of her husband Frank. In the letter, she wrote:

“It is my intention to attend the City Council meeting. However, due to the fact that my husband, who is 90 years old, is in the hospital, yesterday just having his condition upgraded from serious to stable, I am writing this letter in case, God forbid, his condition regresses. Given the magnitude of this matter in our lives, he has insisted that I leave his side and be driven from Temecula to Torrance to address this matter in person with you.”

In the letter, Susan described her and Frank as simple working class people that had earned a living by working very, very hard for 44 years to sustain a locksmith and a bicycle business that they built on the property.

Susan closed her letter by writing:

“I appeal to your sense of empathy and general understanding to realize that my husband, children and I need to complete this deal so that we can live out our remaining time knowing that the business we built and the property we made so many sacrifices to buy will, in the end, provide for Frank and I to not live in fear of running out of money”

The property at 2355 Sepulveda Blvd is located in an M-2 Zone which, per the buyer’s’ attorney who also appeared at the meeting, allows car wash uses “by right.” To support his claim, the attorney cited Torrance Municipal Code section 95.3.20 which states as follows:

“Automatic car washing, clean and polishing, conditionally permitted in C-3, C-4, and C-5 zones. No such permit required in M-1 and M-2 zones.”

The staff report acknowledged that a car wash was a permitted use under existing zoning guidelines, but expressed concern that the, “further introduction of car wash uses, where located near or adjacent to residential uses, have the potential to create annoying and excess noise emitting from car wash equipment and general operations.”

In order to further study the issue, City staff recommended that the Council adopt an urgency ordinance that established a temporary moratorium on the issuance of business licenses and permits which pertain to car wash uses. In order to do so, the Council needed to make a legislative finding that the introduction of carwash uses resulted in an immediate threat to public health, safety, or welfare.

The buyer’s attorney and several other representatives argued that no such threat existed with this particular car wash and offered voluminous evidence to that effect. Nobody from the public spoke against the project at the meeting and no complaints about the proposed car wash were included in the staff report.

Despite the lack of opposition to the car wash, the Council was not persuaded by Susan’s plea or any of the arguments offered by the buyer and ended up adopting the proposed moratorium by unanimous vote. The moratorium effectively kills the sale of the property unless the parties can return to Council at a later date and convince City officials that their project merits a waiver to the moratorium.