Landscape shifting as big lots make way for multiple homes.

OLD El Monte and its latest incarnation can be found side by side along McGirk Avenue.

On a three-quarter acre lot across from an Arco station sits a one-story home. Next door is a similar-sized parcel with a four-home development.

Instead of the spacious back yards that recall El Monte's roots as a farming town, the new homes have tiny ones and a shared driveway.

A combination of factors, including Asian immigrants coming into the San Gabriel Valley, the housing boom and loose building codes, have changed the city's landscape yet again, as smaller homes on large lots give way to larger ones with little yard space. "'Old" El Monte was shaped by the Great Depression, which delivered immigrants from Oklahoma and the other Dust Bowl states, and later the ensuing World War II aerospace boom in Southern California.

Much of El Monte still resembles a typical San Gabriel Valley bedroom community, with a mix of one-story homes, auto body shops and convenience stores. But like nearby Rosemead, Temple City and San Gabriel, it has become a destination for Taiwanese and other Asian immigrants who work in the area. While Asians make up just 18.5 percent of El Monte's 116,000 residents, that population has doubled in the last decade.

The city's larger-than-average land lots--a legacy of its farm-town origins--have become a draw for developers. Adding to the attraction is price: The median home price is $290,220, compared to nearly $400,000 in Temple City, according to DataQuick Information Services.

Applications to replace existing homes with new dwellings have jumped 50 percent over last year, according to El Monte Planning Services Manager James Troyer. In their place are "planned unit developments" or PUDs, consisting of 2,000square-foot homes with an upstairs-downstairs layout and shared driveway.

"A few (buyers) will hold out for houses with yards, but a lot of them will settle for anything without one," said Steve Gianoulis, a residential real estate agent for Coldwell Banker George Realty in Arcadia.

The city's building and design rules have aided in this. Because these developments are considered urban infill, El Monte allows for as many as four homes to be built on a half-acre lot, with minuscule requirement for yards. Additional floors can be set back as few as five feet on the back and sides; they can rise as high as 30 feet.

From farms to houses

El Monte started out as a rest stop for Spanish explorers and was settled by pioneers in the mid-1850s, during the California gold rush. With its proximity to the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers, it became home to orchards and farms by the tuna of the 20th century.

Single-family homes began sprouting up during the Great Depression when farmers sold off their parcels to homebuilders. The emergence of the aerospace business accelerated El Monte's transformation as aerospace workers took advantage of the city's proximity to factories.

The latest transformation, which began in the late 1990s, isn't appreciated by all.

Longtime residents complain that the new developments are creating more traffic and will eventually tax the city's sewer system and other government services. Another concern: The influx of new residents is destroying the quiet ambience that has marked El Monte since its early days.

"It's great for the sellers and the developers, but it gets the older people up in arms," said Richard Tovey, an El Monte planning commissioner and longtime resident.

While there is no organized opposition, city officials ale considering new rules to stem development, such as increasing the amount of parking space required on a property or reducing the number of homes that can be built on a lot.

"The population has quadrupled since I've moved here and it doesn't seem to stop," said Tovey. "There's too many people and not enough development land, so something has to give."