Another Vote for Big Boy : Landmarks: A county panel again backs the restaurant’s preservation. But the Burbank City Council, which isn’t taking a stand, may hold the key.

A Los Angeles County commission reiterated Wednesday that a Bob’s Big Boy coffee shop in Burbank should be designated a state historical landmark, so future generations can see an authentic setting for the car culture of 1950s’ teen-agers.

But the coffee shop’s fate may ultimately rest with the Burbank City Council, which, for now, wants to remain out of a quarrel between the building’s owner--who calls it an “eyesore”--and preservationists--who call it an architectural jewel, symbolic of the Southern California Streamline Moderne-style associated with ‘50’s drive-ins.

In a letter dated Tuesday to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose 5th District includes Burbank, Mayor Robert R. Bowne wrote that the council “is not going to take an ‘official’ position of support or opposition . . . .

“The opinions of individual Council members vary on this issue. Further, we have no jurisdiction with respect to this matter. You will simply have to ‘call it like you see it.’ ”

Actually, Burbank is drafting a historic preservation ordinance--a point noted by the County Historical Landmarks and Records Commission at a public hearing Wednesday, moments before it voted 4 to 0 to tell the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that a historical designation for the coffee shop will have “no more than minimal impact” on the owner’s opportunities to develop the site.

However, the city of Burbank would indeed be forced to become involved once its preservation ordinance becomes effective.

“You should lobby the city of Burbank’s officials, rather than the Board of Supervisors,” Louis Skelton, a commission member, told the coffee shop’s owner, Philip MacDonald, who appeared at the hearing to vigorously oppose the historic landmark status.

It was the third time that the commission has sided with the preservationists. In hearings in March and April, the commission rejected MacDonald’s contention that the structure does not deserve to be nominated as a historical landmark.

If the Board of Supervisors agrees with the commission, the nomination will go to the state Office of Historic Preservation, which would make the final decision.

At the hearing Wednesday, MacDonald argued that a historic designation would impair development of the property because--even though it would not by itself forbid demolition of the structure--it would trigger requirements for additional environmental reports, creating “layers of bureaucracy, time and expense.”

Not so, said Helen Parker, representing the county counsel.

“Being subject to the California Environmental Quality Act doesn’t mean you cannot proceed with your development as proposed,” she told the owner. “You’ll probably need an environmental impact report in any case.” The hearing was conducted in response to Supervisor Antonovich’s request on July 7 that the commission investigate how a historical designation might affect future development of the property.

MacDonald told the commissioners Wednesday that he wants to demolish the coffee shop and put up a two-story retail complex or a two- or three-story commercial office building in its place. He said he is negotiating to buy out the Marriott Corp.’s lease to operate the coffee shop--a lease, he said, that expires in 1996 but that Marriott could extend to 2016.

“We’ve reached an agreement on a figure,” MacDonald told the commissioners. “It’s a matter of a down payment and financing. It will happen.”

The commission heard testimony from MacDonald and his architect, John Elizalde of Irvine, as well as attorney Loreen Collins of the Los Angeles Conservancy, who suggested that preserving the coffee shop and “using it as something else might be the best thing.”