18-Story Office Complex OKd : Development: Zoning rules limit the height of buildings outside the downtown redevelopment zone to six stories. Council’s initial approval of the project changes that.

A zone change and General Plan amendment permitting construction of the tallest commercial building outside of Glendale’s downtown redevelopment zone was unanimously approved Tuesday by the City Council.

The action grants preliminary approval for an 18-story office tower and a multilevel parking garage on a 2.5-acre site at Central Avenue and the Ventura Freeway.

The project, located across Central from the redevelopment zone’s boundary, could open the way for other high-rise development beyond the core of the business district. However, officials said the large size of the Central Avenue parcel and its location bordering the freeway make the 18-story proposal unique.

Zoning rules limit the height of buildings to six stories outside the redevelopment zone, roughly bordered by Central on the west, Colorado Street on the south, Maryland Avenue on the east and Glenoaks Boulevard on the north. There is no height limit within the redevelopment zone, where the newest high-rises are 18 to 22 stories tall.

City officials four years ago had proposed strictly enforcing the six-story limit outside the central core to curtail traffic congestion and noise and to encourage massive development only in the central area. That proposal, however, was defeated in the wake of protests by developers, including owners of the just-approved 18-story project at 655 N. Central Ave.

One of the developers is Gary Tobian, a city planning commissioner for six years who abstained from voting on the height limitation proposed in 1987. His partners in the Central Avenue project are Hillman Development Co. of Glendale and Kajima Development Co. of Los Angeles.

Glendale Planning Director John W. McKenna said last week that the Central Avenue project is not expected to set a precedent because of the unusual attributes of the property. But he said future development on the west side of Central should be compatible with recent development within the redevelopment zone on the east side of Central, which includes two nine-story office buildings.

The 655 N. Central project would replace a three- to six-story medical building backed by a surface parking lot on Pioneer Drive. Immediately west of the project is the 18-story Park Towers condominium, built almost 10 years ago as a buffer between a residential neighborhood of older homes and apartments and the Ventura Freeway.

The zone change, which goes before the council for a final vote next week, includes 60 conditions attached to the proposed development, including 19 provisions to mitigate traffic congestion, such as a ban on left turns from Pioneer Drive to Central Avenue. The project also provides for widening Central at the freeway off-ramp.

McKenna said the project “has been given a great deal of scrutiny” by city officials and neighboring homeowners.