BURBANK : City’s Rancho Area to Allow Movie Studios

Motion picture studios can now move into a business zone of Burbank’s Rancho neighborhood, but only after obtaining a permit from the city.

An amendment to city zoning laws to allow the change was approved by the City Council in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night, with Councilman Bob Bowne dissenting.

The change alters the Rancho Master Plan, adopted by the city last year to preserve the mainly single-family residential area, which also includes some properties that permit horse ownership. The master plan eliminated some business uses--including studios--in the neighborhood.

Tuesday’s action was prompted by a developer who had tried to interest a small motion picture studio in the site of the now-vacant Von’s store on Alameda Avenue. The studio lost interest in the location, but the developer, Rediger Investment Corp. of Burbank, went ahead with a request for a zoning amendment, city officials said.

Ted McConkey, head of a local homeowners group, said he objects to the zoning change because a “motion picture studio” is too broadly defined. But William J. Smith, a member of the committee that drew up the master plan, said that even though studios were omitted from the list of acceptable uses, he would support the change if any studio was required to get a permit from the city to locate in the neighborhood.

In considering the change, city officials originally suggested that the studios simply be listed as an accepted use, but that sound-stage floor area be limited to no more than 10% of the property. But the council rejected that suggestion, and instead required that each studio wanting to locate in the area get a conditional use permit, given after review by the Planning Board and, possibly, the City Council.

In other action, the council extended the city’s early retirement incentive program, created to help balance the budget for the 1992-93 fiscal year. Officials promised employees that there would be no layoffs. But a freeze was placed on wages until this year and other cost-cutting measures were taken.

So far, 11 employees have taken the early retirement offer, and with the other steps the city saved nearly $800,000. The action Tuesday night gives any employee retiring between April 1 and Sept. 1 of this year an additional two years credit on their service record. City officials expect four employees to take the offer.