BURBANK : Council Retains Residency Rule

Thwarting participation by the studios and Burbank Airport in the Magnolia Park Citizens Advisory Committee, the Burbank City Council decided not to lift a residency requirement limiting membership.

The committee will study traffic patterns and ways of protecting the Magnolia Park neighborhood.

Hollywood Way, the main thoroughfare from the Ventura Freeway to Burbank Airport, runs through the neighborhood and is a potential point of contention. Residents and business owners in the neighborhood staunchly oppose any widening of the street, which could ease traffic heading to the airport but could also eliminate parking and strangle local businesses, neighbors say.

In forming the 12-member committee, the council designated two seats to represent business interests in the Media District, near the Ventura Freeway and the site for studios in Burbank, and in the Golden State neighborhood, which includes Burbank Airport.

However, only one application was submitted from the Golden State area. An application from Warner Bros. to represent the Media District came after the July 20 deadline and was not from a Burbank resident.

On Tuesday night, the council voted 3 to 1, with Vice Mayor Bill Wiggins dissenting, to reject a suggestion from city staff that residency be waived and applications be solicited from the Airport Authority or the Burbank Media District Transportation Management Organization.

“I feel uncomfortable with opening the rules of the selection process to accommodate a special interest,” Councilwoman Susan Spanos said.

The council came up with several suggestions, eventually rejected, including one by Councilman Dave Golonski that the residency requirement for the Golden State area and the Media District be waived, but that those members be given non-voting status.

The committee, to be made up of Magnolia Park business and resident representatives, is scheduled to be selected from a field of 27 candidates Aug. 31. Councilman Bob Bowne was absent.