Burbank Land-Use Plan to Shield Residential Areas

A land-use plan adopted by the Burbank City Council focuses on protection of residential neighborhoods in the face of increasing commercial and office development.

The plan, which speculates on land use and future development in Burbank to the year 2005, will be part of the city’s master plan that determines how property is used and developed. The plan, which went into effect immediately, was formulated over the last six years by city planning officials.

City Council members called the land-use plan, which they unanimously approved Tuesday night, an important step in analyzing the future of Burbank.

“This is the blueprint we have needed for so long,” said Councilman Michael Hastings.

After a 6.3% drop from 90,155 in 1960 to 84,625 in 1980, Burbank’s population is increasing, according to estimates in the plan. The 1985 population of the city was estimated at 87,400, and officials said it will increase through 1990.

“The resurgence of growth can be attributed to an increase in new housing development, which is being absorbed almost as fast as it is being built,” the plan said. “Burbank is an increasingly desirable place to live. . . . The city’s growing role as a major employment center creates an added demand for more housing in the area.”

Neighborhoods Threatened

In recent years, growing commercial and industrial interest in the city has resulted in the proliferation of high-rise office and apartment buildings that threaten Burbank’s quiet residential neighborhoods, according to the plan.

“We wanted to protect the existing quality of life in Burbank,” said Barbara Lazar, a city administrative analyst and one of the plan’s authors. “This is not a pro-growth plan. But we wanted to allow the existing development to occur while protecting single-family and multiple-family neighborhoods.”

Under the plan, high-rise projects cannot be placed next to single-family neighborhoods, and all structures more than 35 feet in height will be subject to city approval.

The plan restricts development of privately owned property in the Verdugo Mountains. All city-owned land in the mountains, which had been zoned residential, will now be designated as open space that cannot be developed, officials said.

The plan also calls for the city to work with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to resolve questions about the use of property around Burbank Airport. It suggests that the city look into requiring sound insulation for new structures near the facility.