BURBANK : Boys and Girls Club Hopes to Save Facility

Before the new Boys and Girls Club of Burbank can save children from lives of trouble and crime, organizers must first save the club’s proposed headquarters--an old city fire station that once was headed for an appointment with a bulldozer.

“The city initially wanted to demolish the building,” said John Ornelas, city redevelopment administrator, referring to the abandoned Fire Station 13 on Buena Vista Street near San Fernando Road.

Burbank firefighters moved out of the building with its leaky roofs and falling plaster and into a more modern facility earlier this year.

Last week, the Rev. Jerry Jones, pastor of the Burbank Community Church and club president, reached an agreement with the city that allows the club to make repairs to the facility before a lease is signed for the fire station property.

City and club officials said they expect to have a lease agreement completed by the end of the year. The proposal calls for the city to lease the fire station to the club in preparation for opening the building as a clubhouse. The city would lease the building to the club for a nominal fee, such as $1 a year.

Organizers want to open the clubhouse after the beginning of the year, but Jones said more volunteer help from skilled laborers, carpenters, electricians and many others is needed before that can occur.

The club’s board of directors will make its first repairs this weekend, Jones said.

Ornelas said that other groups such as the police and fire unions also expressed an interest in the building, but that the City Council prefers that it be used by a charity.

Despite the council’s willingness to let the club use the facility, it was not willing to commit to a long-term lease.

Ornelas said the initial lease will probably be for two years with a 180-day termination clause. If the city develops the former Lockheed Corp. property, he said, a new Golden State Freeway interchange at Empire Avenue would go through the site and the club would have to move.

But that won’t be for another five to 10 years, Ornelas said.

Earlier this year, club organizers had considered using McKinley Elementary School as its headquarters, but backed off of that idea because of an unrelated problem in the Burbank Unified School District.

Jones said the club still hopes to use the school as a mobile recreation site.