Prompted by residents’ concerns, City Council OK’s appeal that blocks installation of paint booth
After hearing concerns from dozens of residents and their children about a local business owner’s plans to install a paint booth on his property, the Burbank City Council decided it was better if such a service was not installed so close to homes and an elementary school.
Council members unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve an appeal to deny Harout Karaian’s application to have a paint booth at Studio Autoworks, a vehicle repair shop he owns at 2300 W. Burbank Blvd.
A resolution to outright deny the project will come before the City Council during a future meeting.
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Council members agreed that, although the site is compatible to have a paint booth, having such an operation there “increases the intensity of this fundamentally incompatible operation with sensitive receptors — children, elderly [and] infirmed,” Councilman David Gordon said.
Studio Autoworks is in proximity to a residential neighborhood, a Montessori school, the Burbank Dance Academy and Edison Elementary School.
For about a year, Burbank residents and parents whose children attend Edison have fought against Karaian’s request to install a paint booth at his automotive repair business.
Patrick Panzarello, a paid speaker who was hired by Karaian to speak on his behalf, said that the business owner wanted to add another level of service at his shop, which primarily attaches new bumpers and fenders to vehicles after they have been involved in collisions.
“We’re not an auto body center, and we don’t do auto body paint, per se,” Panzarello said. “We just want to paint that part to match the car that’s inside of our system. A spray booth doesn’t work daily. It doesn’t work all-day long taking in cars for painting.”
The repair shop received a permit from the Southern California Air Quality Management District to spray paint cars and bumpers at the facility, and Karaian was waiting for a permit from the city to start painting at his business.
However, several residents in the surrounding neighborhood and parents whose children attend Edison said that Karaian’s business has already been painting cars, and they could smell the fumes emanating from the site.
Stacey Wright, a health assistant from Providencia Elementary School whose husband was one of the appellants, said the fumes from the paint would have negative effects on children and adults in that area should the paint booth be permitted.
“Children are outdoors for physical education, running and breathing heavily and playing outside both schools,” she said. “People are walking, running, biking daily on the [Chandler] Bike Path in efforts to stay fit.”
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
