Torrance Council OKs $9.3-Million Medical Office

After wrestling with the issue for months, the Torrance City Council has unanimously approved a $9.3-million medical office building opposite Little Company of Mary Hospital, despite objections from neighborhood residents.

The council decision Tuesday night was a victory for the hospital, which argued that the medical building is crucial to its survival, and a defeat for residents who fear their neighborhood will be overrun by traffic.

Homeowner Fran Quinlan wept as she told council members that the peace and quiet of her neighborhood, north of the hospital, has been replaced in recent years by the sound of cars careening around corners.

Her voice breaking with emotion, Quinlan said her back yard once was “a beautiful spot that refreshed her spirit,” a refuge from the bustling world outside her neighborhood. “Now the pace and perils are a few steps from my front door.”

Quinlan complained that traffic passing through the Del Amo West neighborhood, south of Del Amo Boulevard and west of Hawthorne Boulevard, is “already out of control” even without the proposed 4-story medical building that would be several blocks away.

She pleaded with the council to heed the concerns of homeowners and consider the negative impact of adding another 3,200 trips per day to the already congested hospital area.

But it was apparent from the beginning of the 2-hour hearing that the council intended to approve the medical building because the hospital had redesigned its plans.

At a 3-hour hearing on Aug. 2, council members told hospital officials that the hospital had failed to heed the council’s private messages that the project would have to be revised to win approval.

In ensuing weeks, the hospital spent $200,000 on new plans for a 63,660-square-foot building of buff-colored concrete and green-glass that will be built along the west side of Earl Street between Maricopa and Emerald streets. The building will be surrounded by a parking lot with spaces for 358 cars.

The biggest change dictated by the council was moving the building from a corner of the lot to the center of the property to minimize the likelihood of further construction there. The new plan also eliminates a 2-story parking structure. In 1987, the hospital initially sought to build two office buildings on the site.

“We feel we have worked very hard to address your concerns . . . . the hospital’s need for the project has been established,” James Ruetz, Little Company vice president, told the council. Several hospital officials, including three nuns in habits, sat in the front of the auditorium during the hearing. The not-for-profit hospital is operated by Sisters of Little Company of Mary, a Roman Catholic order.

After a lengthy discussion of several of the 28 conditions imposed on the project, including a $50,000 hospital contribution to the city to offset traffic problems, the council endorsed the revised plans.

Hospital officials shook hands and congratulated each other after the unanimous verdict. “We think they’ve been fair,” Ruetz said.

Before the vote, Councilman Bill Applegate told the audience that the approval would leave both sides “a little disappointed.”

“Sometimes it’s a lose-lose situation,” he said. “We’re not going to satisfy all of you.”

That did not placate neighborhood leaders who complained their warnings about traffic were not being heeded.

Quinlan said the council had ignored letters from 85% of the residents of the Del Amo West subdivision complaining about potential traffic problems. “This new project does not address our concerns,” she said, noting that “rhetoric will not solve our problems.”

With a little imagination, Quinlan said, one could envision a second building and parking structure being built on the site.

City Atty. Stanley E. Remelmeyer said there was no way for the council to prevent the hospital from submitting additional projects in the future.

John Eubanks, president of the Southwood Homeowners Assn., again said his organization opposed the project because of the congestion. “The traffic is bad already,” he said.

Del Amo West resident Seymour Uberman said he cannot cross Earl Street near his home because of speeding motorists. “It’s going to become carnage alley,” he said. “We are in the process of creating an awful mess.”

But Applegate blamed traffic problems in the hospital area on the soon-to-be-completed 8-story Computax building at Torrance and Hawthorne boulevards, not on the hospital.

Echoing the sentiments expressed by hospital supporters at the last hearing, Applegate said Little Company of Mary is a “community resource” that offers quality medical care to a rapidly aging population.

Hospital officials warned that without the medical building, they would be unable to remain competitive with the Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center and other South Bay hospitals.

To bolster their case, Little Company representatives said the hospital had lost money in recent months as patient counts dropped.

Little Company President James Lester said the 55 physicians who will occupy the new medical building should provide 15 to 20 more patients per day, boosting the hospital’s average occupancy to 180 beds.

“The argument we tried to make was a genuine one,” added Ruetz. “We need more office space near the hospital.”