Residents Steamed Up Over Proposed Burger King : Encino: At a land-use meeting, debate over the drive-through is heated. The homeowner protest will be considered next month.

Anyone looking for the beef could have found it at a public hearing Monday where a whopper of a protest broke out among Encino residents opposed to a drive-through Burger King on Ventura Boulevard.

More than once, a Los Angeles city planner considering the restaurant backers’ request for an exception to a land-use ordinance ordered the 30-member audience to quiet down.

“I’m determined to have a fair, unbiased hearing,” City Planner Eric Ritter said at one point. “I’m surprised I have to keep saying this to you folks.”

But it proved difficult to keep tempers in check while discussing such a meaty issue. Especially when the participants were asked how they felt about the project and six raised their hands in its support.

“They don’t live there,” one man muttered.

“I live there,” countered a man with his arm high.

“Well, how nice,” the first man said. “We’re so fortunate.”

“Look, we’re going to be nice to each other,” the hearing officer chimed in, trying to restore civility.

Cimms Inc., which runs more than 20 Burger King franchises, wants to open a 3,164-square-foot restaurant with drive-through service on a vacant lot at the northwest corner of Ventura Boulevard and Gloria Avenue. A patio surrounded by wrought-iron trellises and festooned with bougainvillea would provide another area for dining. A children’s play area with a jungle gym also is proposed.

Late last year, Cimms representatives and the current property owner were granted the necessary conditional use permits, city officials said.

However, Homeowners of Encino and an owner of an adjacent office building appealed the decision, and their protest will be considered by the Board of Zoning Appeals next month.

The restaurant also has applied for an exception to the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, which designates the area for pedestrian use.

During the hearing on the issue, which will be decided next month, a representative of Councilman Marvin Braude decried granting an exception to the Specific Plan. Local residents and business operators said that they believed the Burger King would increase traffic and pose a safety hazard.

“I bought property here because I have two small children,” said Julie Sauer, 34. “Every time they leave to take a walk I feel scared and I think Burger King is going to attract teen-age drivers.”

The residents also mentioned that they thought land values would decrease, that the restaurant would “stink” and that diners could not possibly enjoy eating on Ventura Boulevard amid clouds of auto exhaust.

But Burger King Corp. representatives and a homeowner speaking for five others said they plan to encourage pedestrians to drop by for low-cost, convenient meals. However, they said, it is necessary to offer drive-through service to make the project profitable in the car-centered culture of Southern California.

They said their project will actually ease traffic because they plan to widen Gloria Avenue and because people in nearby office buildings can eat at Burger King rather than getting into their cars to go to restaurants farther away. Also, they said, they will put up signs encouraging drive-through customers to turn down their radios and respect neighbors.

“I think it’s important to stress a lot of care has gone into this,” said Burger King representative Dennis Fletcher. “This will not be your typical Burger King.”