Vote for Housing Tract Aims to Ease Equestrians’ Fears : Burbank: Residents of the Rancho area have said their lifestyle would vanish if industrial projects were allowed.

The Burbank City Council on Tuesday tentatively approved construction of a 22-house tract in the city’s horse-oriented Rancho area, which officials said should ease residents’ longstanding fears about preserving the community’s equestrian atmosphere.

Horse lovers and others who live in the Rancho community adjacent to Griffith Park have battled for many years to prevent developers from building industrial projects in the area, even though city zoning laws allowed such projects.

The residents, many of whom keep horses in their back yards, have claimed that their equestrian lifestyle would vanish under the impact of projects that had nothing to do with horses.

Many controversies have involved an 11-acre parcel known as the “Mariposa Triangle” along narrow Mariposa Street, one of the main access routes for horses into Griffith Park.

Under the new legislation, which must come before the council again next month for final approval, a five-acre portion of the triangle would be rezoned from light industrial to “planned development,” which would allow for the construction of 22 single-family houses.

The presence of the houses would block future manufacturing projects of the type that horse owners oppose.

Officials said the city is also currently in escrow with Photo Sonics, a camera parts firm located in the triangle, to purchase its outbuildings and unused land, to prevent additional manufacturing development there.

“This is the culmination of many efforts by the city and residents in the area to bring about a project that is consistent with the surrounding community,” said Chris Foss, assistant to the Burbank city manager. “This is what the residents have been pushing for all these years.”

Burbank city officials have long recognized the uniqueness and desirability of the Rancho area, which attracts many residents from the movie and television studios of the city’s Media District, just a short drive away.

The light industry zones had been established in the area by a previous Burbank administration specifically to accommodate commercial stables, which are not allowed in residential areas.

But developers in recent years sought permission for other projects allowable under that zoning. One developer proposed a 13,400-square-foot industrial park, another a three-building, 147,500-square-foot public storage facility.

Each time an issue affecting the area came before the council, hundreds of community residents turned out to oppose it, prompting the council to reject the requests.