Hermosa Beach Rejects Plan to Split Property Into 3 Lots

The City Council has turned down a well-known Hermosa Beach real estate agent’s proposal to subdivide her property in one of the last areas of the city with spacious lots.

Neighbors successfully argued to the council this week that the plan conflicts with the character of the “Valley area,” a tract of 40-year-old homes with lots 50 feet wide.

Betty Ryan had sought to split her double lot at 588 20th St. into three 40-foot-wide properties, arguing that the plan was legal under the Municipal Code because the subdivided lots would conform to the square footage of her neighbors’ lots. In addition, she said, 40-foot-wide lots are common in the city.

But Planning Director Michael Schubach said the code is ambiguous in its requirement that new subdivisions be consistent with prevailing lot sizes in the area. Schubach said the code does not specify whether frontage or square footage is a prime consideration in determining lot size, nor does it specify how broad an area should be used for comparison.

The council ultimately sided 4 to 1 Tuesday with Ryan’s neighbors, who said any subdivision should fit in with their specific neighborhood. The vast majority of the 140 homes in the Valley area, which runs from Pier Avenue to Gould Avenue between Valley Drive and the sand dune that runs the length of the city, are on lots 50 feet wide or wider.

“We would feel absolutely cheated if the lots were subdivided so the unique character of the neighborhood were changed,” resident Dave Pena said. “We worked long and hard . . . and paid a premium to move into that neighborhood.”

The council told Ryan she could cut her property in half, but not in thirds, and invited her to return with a scaled-down plan.

“I’m disappointed,” Ryan said, noting that the vote will make a “significant difference” in the price she will be able to ask for her property.

She said that she and her husband are planning to move to a new home nearer the beach, and she contends that any interference with her subdivision is an infringement on her property rights.

“This is a very arbitrary decision,” she said.