Disney Officials Address Fears About Burbank Expansion Plan

The Walt Disney Co., which recently ran into objections from residents when it unveiled plans for the massive “Disney Sea” project in Long Beach, Monday night held the first in a series of community forums for its Burbank neighbors to explain plans to expand the company’s studio headquarters.

About 35 people attended the session at which Disney executives discussed the planned $600-million expansion.

Disney executives served snacks and tried to calm fears of traffic and parking problems.

“We like the small-town atmosphere in Burbank and we’re worried about traffic,” said Kate McWatters, who lives in the Ranchos neighborhood three blocks east of the studio. “We feel a lot better after the meeting.”

“Certainly in this job market, it seems like an expansion of a stable company is good,” said Blanche Nerad of Burbank, who lives across town. “I think Disney has done a lot for the community and anything they do would continue to benefit the area.”

Disney officials sponsored the forum, have scheduled three others and will hold even more in a community outreach effort being played out against the backdrop of the public relations disaster Disney recently encountered in Long Beach. Residents there were concerned that Disney’s proposed $3-billion waterfront hotel and theme park complex could increase port traffic and street congestion.

Alan Epstein, vice president of Disney Development Co., said the Burbank forum was not a reaction to the company’s experience in Long Beach.

“If you went back and looked at what we did in Long Beach, it was very similar to what you see tonight,” he said. “If anything, we took what we did well in Long Beach and learned from it.”

Some Burbank officials and neighborhood leaders have said that the project could give an economic boost to the city, which has lost several major industries and an estimated 10,000 jobs this year. Epstein has promised residents that the expansion will indeed result in several thousand new jobs.

But some residents are concerned about the noise and traffic problems that could accompany the expansion.

Lois Thomson, who lives on Keystone Street, across from the Disney studio, said she was worried by news that Disney was buying houses on her street. “We didn’t know if they might rezone and squeeze people out,” Thomson said. “I still feel uneasy about it.”

Disney executives said the company bought seven houses on Keystone Street in the past year to provide temporary housing for relocated managers, and has no plans to rezone the area or to remove the houses.

But although Disney sent 33,000 newsletters to Burbank residents announcing the meetings, community interest has been less than expected, Epstein said. Only 30 people have signed up for meetings today and Thursday on the studio lot and the Friday forum was canceled because no one wanted to come, he said.

“I’d like to take it as a very positive message that people are enthusiastic about the plan,” Epstein said before the meeting. “It’s obvious we’ve worked hard to develop a responsive and responsible plan and they are not as concerned about it as they otherwise might have been.”

Disney is particularly interested in dealing with any worries over whether the development fits the guidelines of the Media District Specific Plan, a growth-control plan approved last year by the Burbank City Council, Epstein said. Epstein said the expansion conforms to the city plan and city officials have said it appears to meet its requirements.

The plan restricts development in the area to protect residential neighborhoods from growth generated by industries in the district.

The Disney studio is bordered by the Ventura Freeway, Buena Vista Street, Alameda Avenue and Keystone Street in the city’s Media District, where other major studios also have headquarters.

The development on Disney’s 44-acre lot would include four to six advanced sound stages, an employee center, a casting building, production facilities and a creative arts center, executives said.

As part of the development, the studio has proposed a number of transportation plans, such as van pools and shuttle buses, and traffic improvements, such as additional signals and turn lanes. Landscaping would help shield the studio lot from the surrounding area.

Disney officials have said they hope to gain City Council approval for the project within a year and start construction of the sound stages by 1993.

The studio needs the new facilities because Disney is producing more television programs and films.

The company also wants to consolidate some of its operations, which are spread throughout the San Fernando Valley and Glendale, and establish the creative “college campus” atmosphere envisioned by Walt Disney when he established the headquarters on its current site in 1941.