9A
Date: December 2, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Michelle Ramirez, Community Development Director | [email protected] Subject: Community Development - Supplemental Material #1 for Agenda Item 9A
DISCUSSION
Subsequent to the publication of the agenda item, staff became aware that the Ordinance Summary reflects the originally scheduled hearing date of November 4, 2025. A revised Ordinance Summary has been prepared.
Additionally, staff received public correspondence from the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce related to this item.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Revised Ordinance Summary
2. Public Correspondence
1 ORDINANCE SUMMARY
On December 2, 2025, the City Council of the City of Torrance introduced by title only, at first reading, Ordinance No. _______ “An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Torrance, California, Adding Section 92.32.7 “Tarps, Canopies, and Pop-Up Structures on Private Property” to Division 9, Chapter 2, Article 32 of the Torrance Municipal Code." On December 16, 2025, the City Council of the City of Torrance adopted Ordinance No. _______. Ordinance No. ______ will take effect 30 days after the adoption date of December 16, 2025. The following is a summary of Ordinance No. _______.
Addition to the Torrance Municipal Code (TMC):
Ordinance No. ______ would add TMC Article 32 to Chapter 2 of Division 9 entitled “Tarps, Canopies, and Pop-Up Structures on Private Property”. In summary, the ordinance would address and regulate the use of tarps, canopies and pop-up structures on both residential and non-residential properties.
Passed, Approved, and Adopted the 16th day of December 2025, by the following vote:
Ayes:
Noes:
Absent:
Abstain:
The full text of Ordinance No. ______ is available for inspection during regular business hours at the City Clerk’s Office (3031 Torrance Boulevard, Torrance, California 90503) Monday through Friday with alternating closed Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or at https://www.torranceca.gov/government/city-clerk.
DATED THIS ____ DAY OF DECEMBER, 2025
Rebecca Poirier, City Clerk
City of Torrance
3031 Torrance Boulevard
Torrance, California 90503
2 ATTACHMENT 1
From: Ramirez, Michelle
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2025 1:30 PM
To: '[email protected]' <[email protected]> Cc: Cortez, Leslie <[email protected]>; Lodan, Gregg <[email protected]> Subject: RE: Information Regarding Proposed Amendment to the Municipal Code
Hi Will ~
My name is Michelle Ramirez and I’m the Community Development Director for the City of Torrance. Your below email was forwarded to me for review. Please see below for responses. Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out.
MICHELLE RAMIREZ
Community Development Director - Community Development Department 310-618-5996 | [email protected]
TorranceCA.Gov | Facebook | X (Formerly Twitter) | Instagram This email, and any attachments to it, may contain confidential information and is intended for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, or believe that you may have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email and any attachments.
Any review, reliance, disclosure, copying, storing, distribution, forwarding without express permission, or use of the contents of the information received in error is strictly prohibited.
From: Will Brandt <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2025 9:46 AM
To: Cortez, Leslie <[email protected]>
Subject: Information Regarding Proposed Amendment to the Municipal Code
Hi Leslie!
I'm reaching out on behalf of the Torrance Chamber of Commerce regarding concerns around the "Tarps, Canopies, and Pop-Up Structures on Private Property" amendment to the Municipal Code. The Chamber was hoping we could get more information on what the amendment looks like in practice.
Would events like antique faires, swap meets, farmers markets, and the like be required to get permits to use EZ ups and other canopies during the day? It is already included as part of the Special Events Permit for each of those events. Therefore, no additional permit would be required. If adopted, this ordinance should not impact those businesses that follow the already adopted regulations as related to Special Events, Temporary Parking Lot Events, Seasonal Sales or Temporary Special Events.
Would this amendment be enforced through fines or other penalties for non-compliant businesses? Potentially. However, the City focuses on compliance. As such, if a violation was observed, a Code Enforcement Officer would reach out to the business to inform them of the regulation, which would include the issuance of a Notice of Violation. If a business continues to ignore the regulation, then ultimately an administrative citation could be issued.
You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important 3 ATTACHMENT 2
Are there any discussions to restrict this strictly to residential properties? As the ordinance was at the direction of the City Council, it would be a point of discussion among them.
If there's any informational materials on this issue, please let me know. Our members are following this closely. There are no information materials at this point, as the ordinance has not been approved or adopted by the City Council. It is scheduled to be heard at their December 2nd City Council meeting. The staff report and draft ordinance can be found
at: file:///C:/Users/mramirez/Downloads/Agenda%20Item%209A%20(5).pdf.
Hope you're well and you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Best,
Will
--
William Brandt
Office of Government Affairs
(310) 540-5858
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