GLENDALE : Agency Lengthens Meetings to 1 Hour

With a number of major plans and projects expected to come down the pipeline soon, the Glendale Redevelopment Agency has adopted an extended work schedule with longer meetings and extended study sessions twice a month.

City Councilman Sheldon Baker, who was appointed chairman of the agency board of directors last week, said the agency needs more time than its weekly half-hour meetings allow to discuss several important developments it will consider in the coming year.

“This is not a criticism of the way things were done in the past, but we just have an avalanche coming toward us and I just don’t think we can adequately cover this kind of material in a 30-minute meeting,” Baker said.

The agency agreed to lengthen its meetings to one hour twice a month, and to allow for two two-hour study sessions a month to discuss projects.

The first two study sessions scheduled under the proposal are a meeting Tuesday on the San Fernando Road redevelopment plan and a May 8 meeting on the agency’s 1995-96 budget.

Among the projects the agency will work on in the coming year are a development master plan for the San Fernando Road area, the city’s strategic plan for the downtown area and a two-block redevelopment project in the heart of the downtown area. Baker said he also wants the agency to outline its priorities for the future of the downtown area.

Baker said one reason he wanted to increase the agency’s work hours is to create a public forum for the committees working on the downtown and San Fernando Road plans, whose work often goes unnoticed, he said.

“It’s necessary that at a fairly early stage, the work of a committee is brought up and we have a chance to share our ideas,” he said. “We’re working on some very serious plans, so I think we need to discuss them openly, so that they reflect what the community wants.”