Bill to Give Burbank Park Funds Advances
The state Senate Natural Resources Committee Tuesday approved a bill that would give the City of Burbank $3 million in state funds to help it purchase about 240 acres of hillside property that the city wants to use for parkland.
The bill, co-authored by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), calls for Burbank to pay half the cost of buying the privately owned property in the Verdugo Mountains, while the state would pay for the rest from tidelands oil revenue.
An independent appraiser hired by the city had said the land is worth $6 million. But developer Sherman Whitmore, who owns most of the land, said his appraiser had placed the value of his property at nearly $38 million.
The bill, which was approved 6 to 0, now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it could be voted on as early as next week.
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