‘Maverick’ Redevelopment Boss Relishes Juggling Act : Kosmont Wins Praise for Balancing Priorities of Burbank’s Residents and Builders

For Larry J. Kosmont, the “beautiful” in downtown Burbank is in the eye of the beholder.

When Kosmont, Burbank’s community development director, takes friends or potential property developers around the city, he often passes the deteriorating Golden Mall shopping center and the numerous vacant lots downtown and remarks: “Well, here it is. This is our jewel.”

Recalling some of the startled reactions from his passengers, Kosmont said with a chuckle: “Yeah, I get some puzzled looks. But I always see things as they will be, not necessarily as they are. I have this sparkling picture of what I think downtown is going to look like soon. I can’t even drive around Burbank routinely without thinking about how we can improve this area or that area.”

‘Storm Before the Storm’

With few exceptions, Kosmont, 34, is the most frantic official around Burbank City Hall these days. Kosmont and his staff are in the center of “the storm before the storm” as they attempt to coordinate 30 major development projects throughout the city, including the future of the Town Center Mall, scheduled to be the centerpiece of downtown. They are also involved in developing a 10-screen movie theater, opening the Golden Mall to traffic and formulating a master plan for the city.

That activity is in addition to continually advising the city’s Redevelopment Agency, steering two citizen advisory committees that are looking at the uneasy relationship between commercial development and residential tranquility, overseeing the completion of a senior citizens center and contemplating the building of a convention center.

“For the first time in Burbank, everything is coming together at the same time,” Kosmont said as he sat in his second-floor office at City Hall. “It’s great, but it’s exhausting for me and my staff. I’d like to have more people on the staff. We’re working 70-hour weeks.”

But Kosmont is not complaining. He is one of only two major city officials to survive the shake-up last year after Mayor Mary Lou Howard took control of a newly constituted council. Both the city attorney and the city manager resigned under pressure last May.

Went Looking for Job

Kosmont was so concerned for his own job security that he began looking elsewhere. He was a finalist for West Hollywood city manager when Howard persuaded him to stay.

So far, Kosmont has received generally high marks from council members, although some say he is a little too aggressive in trying to secure development projects. Councilman Al F. Dossin said he thinks that Kosmont “tends to move too fast while communicating too little with the council.” Dossin criticized Kosmont for bringing up the convention center issue to the council in the midst of all the other activity.

And Councilman Michael R. Hastings said Kosmont “is a strong, maverick leader, but it takes someone stronger to hold back the reins. But it’s better to hold someone back then having to whip them to work.”

Has Achieved Balance

But all the council members praised Kosmont, saying he has been largely successful in selling Burbank to developers and helping to bring Burbank into the modern age while keeping its homey, small-town atmosphere.

“It’s extremely difficult to balance residential and business development, but Larry has been moving us in a good direction,” Howard said. “It’s also hard because all the officials, as well as the residents, have different priorities on what should be finished first. Larry has been able to balance everything, and he’s handling it.”

Kosmont said the intense activity is because planning and implementation are taking place at the same time. “The city administration before this one didn’t have any vision or any planning sense. It’s frightening when you think about it. It was just ‘go, go, go, put up this building, put up that development.’ ”

Although Kosmont was excited when he was hired in late 1983 by former City Manager Andrew C. Lazzaretto to front the city redevelopment department, he was frustrated because the council did not place priority on planning. The council also eliminated a large part of his staff in a cost-cutting move, he said. Kosmont said he asked for more help, but was repeatedly turned down.

Kosmont said the lack of planning and increased interest in Burbank have contributed to problems in the city’s Media District, where several movie and television studios have headquarters. Continued uncontrolled development will lead to traffic gridlock, which city officials and Kosmont are trying to avert.

More Long-Range Planning

“This council is more concerned with long-range planning and the effects of development,” he said. “That’s what’s really working for us now.”

That means even if long-range planning means taking a hard line or being criticized.

Kosmont last year rejected the developer’s design for the Town Center, calling it “fortress style.” The developer, EWH 1979 Development Co., submitted revised plans last month that Kosmont approved.

Some Burbank residents are critical of Kosmont because of where he lives. They say he is not as sensitive to the wishes and problems of Burbank because he, like other major city officials, does not live in Burbank. Kosmont lives in Seal Beach, City Manager Bud Ovrom’s home is in Downey and City Atty. Douglas C. Holland lives in Moorpark.

“I know that some folks are critical of where I live, but my wife is the director of parks and recreation for the City of Bellflower, and it’s a matter of her having a 50-minute drive, or me having a 50-minute drive,” Kosmont said.

Resignation Demanded

For the most part, Kosmont’s Burbank career has been considerably less controversial than his previous stint as city manager of Bell Gardens, where he worked from August, 1980, to September, 1983. The city council there demanded his resignation, citing “personality differences.” Although he computerized city records and created the city’s community development and finance departments, his direction toward development was “more aggressive” than other city officials wanted, Kosmont said.

But Burbank officials said they like the aggressiveness, adding that they think Kosmont is a “real mover and shaker” who would make a good city manager.

Although he has given some thought to that, Kosmont says that “what I’m being used for now is just fine.”