Comments sought on Burbank street study as Walmart plans to open store
Burbank residents used the fact that some local street improvements have only been partially completed to try to block a Walmart from setting up shop in the site of the former Great Indoors, at least until the mitigations could be completed.
The countdown clock began ticking Monday for Burbank residents to submit their feedback to a draft study looking at the traffic impacts around the Empire Center if the city were to either complete, modify or abandon two sets of traffic-mitigation measures called for in the original environmental document for the retail center.
The street improvements, which include adding more turn lanes at key intersections on Buena Vista Street at Victory Boulevard and Empire Avenue, were called for in a city ordinance approved in 2001, but have been only partially completed.
That’s a fact a few area residents used to try to block a Walmart from setting up shop in the site of the former Great Indoors, at least until the mitigations could be completed. A court sided with the residents in September 2013 when it found that the city had failed its duty to implement the measures.
Earlier this year, however, an appeals court was not convinced that allowing Walmart to “repurpose” the existing building would prevent the city from making the required street improvements, clearing the way for Walmart to begin work on opening a new store.
The court directed the lower court to order the city to make the improvements or conduct a new environmental review to modify the requirements.
According to the new environmental study, prepared by Westlake Village-based Meridian Consultants, eliminating the remaining mitigations altogether would result in “significant cumulative impacts” to the traffic at the two intersections on Buena Vista Street with the Empire Center fully built out, based on projected traffic for the next 20 years.
However, the study also found that completing the two improvements as called for in the original ordinance would have significant costs — a combined estimate of about $15 million — and would require not only the acquisition of land for the necessary right-of-way, but the demolition of several buildings and the creation of an “excessively wide street.”
These and other impacts to the area, such as disruption of a nearby convenience store and the displacement of industrial and post-production businesses and a neighborhood restaurant, are inconsistent with several of the city’s policies outlined in its General Plan, the study found.
The original mitigation measures called for two left-turn lanes to be built on eastbound Victory and southbound Buena Vista. Most of those improvements have been made, but to complete the requirements, one more left-turn lane would need to be built on the Buena Vista.
The ordinance also required three left-turn lanes on westbound Empire and two left-turn lanes on all other sides of the intersection at Buena Vista and Empire, plus a right-turn-only lane at all sides of the intersection. Again, work has been done on this project, but to be fully implemented, one more left-turn lane and right-turn lane would need to be built on westbound Empire and another right-turn lane on southbound Buena Vista.
The study also considered alternatives to the original mitigations, which included adjusting the timing of traffic signals at both intersections, but that was deemed infeasible.
One alternative at Buena Vista and Victory would cost an estimated $25,000 and would not require land acquisition. It would involve restriping westbound Victory to add one left-turn lane and create a total of two left-turn lanes, two through lanes and one right-turn-only lane to reduce the impacts to “less than significant.”
A studied alternative at Buena Vista and Empire, however, would still require land acquisition and would cost an estimated $900,000. Unlike the original requirements, it would not require the demolition of existing structures, but the study found it would still be out of line with the city’s General Plan policies regarding land use.
Residents will have until Feb. 4 to submit written comments about the draft study, which can be found on the city’s website, along with details about how to comment at bit.ly/EmpireSEIR.
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Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com
Twitter: @chadgarland
