BURBANK : Historical Group Rejects City Measure

Calling it useless and a waste of three years of work, the Burbank Historical Society has rejected as a sham a proposed historic preservation ordinance.

After the society protested the measure, the Burbank City Council tabled the proposal earlier this week.

Society members vowed to try to revive a strengthened measure after May 1, when a new majority of the five-member council takes office.

“We worked on this for over three years, and will be more than willing to put in another three years,” said Theodore X. Garcia, vice president of the Burbank Historical Society.

In the lengthy discussions, preservationists had clashed with owners who wanted to preserve their rights over their property. A compromise had been worked out between the society and the Burbank Chamber of Commerce under which owners could veto the inclusion of their land in lists of historic buildings.

The compromise still would have protected historic buildings by setting new requirements for demolition and building permits. The new review procedure also required compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

But the council objected, saying the state law requirements would have been too costly and lengthy for property owners, and ordered that provision deleted.

But in early February, the City Council objected to the compromise because under state law, costly and lengthy legal requirements are needed before owners can make changes to property deemed historic.

“As written, there is no mechanism in there which provides for the preservation of historic buildings,” Garcia said.

“I would hate to start from scratch because our people put a lot of work into this,” said Zoe Taylor, executive director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, adding that, however, they would be “more than happy” to work on the issue again.