BURBANK : City, L.A. County Agree to Land Swap

The city of Burbank has agreed to swap land with Los Angeles County so it can build a three-story parking garage for 300 cars.

“We view this as a parking structure that is going to take the pressure off the rest of the downtown,” City Manager Robert Ovrom said.

Officials have been working on the agreement for more than a year.

The deal, which was approved by the City Council in a 5-0 vote Tuesday night, still must be approved by the County Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to debate the matter April 13.

The county plans to add two more courtrooms to its 300 E. Olive Ave. building by expanding onto empty city-owned land at 336 E. Olive Ave., said Cheryl Fuerth, principal real property agent for the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department. That property will be exchanged for a 100-space parking lot owned by the county at 301 E. Angeleno Ave., where the city will build its parking garage.

The property being transferred from the city to the county was acquired by the city’s Redevelopment Agency in 1986. It has been vacant since an office building there was demolished in November, said Christopher Foss, special assistant to Burbank’s Community Development Director.

The county will be leasing from the city 200 of the parking spaces in the garage for 99 years at $1 a year and also pay 20% of an estimated $5,000 a month maintenance cost.

City officials said that the cost of the construction was estimated at about $2.5 million. A bid opening on the parking garage is scheduled for April 20. The county also plans a bid opening on its project in late April.

Burbank resident Mike Nolan criticized the agreement because of a condition that allows the county to break the lease if it decides to take its court facilities out of Burbank.

But Foss said that condition was put in so that the city could regain the parking spaces from the county if another county agency replaces the court operations.