Residents, City Officials Weigh Merits of Studios’ Expansion Plans

Neighbors opposing Universal Studios’ $2-billion expansion plan testified for four hours Monday, telling the County Regional Planning Commission that approving the 25-year project would turn Universal City into an out-of-control destination resort and theme park complex.

Robby Shaw, a Burbank resident, said that living near Universal is like “living next door, 365 days a year, to a boisterous, drunken, disorderly party. You call the mayor, the police and nobody gives a damn. I’m fairly appalled the [Universal expansion] plan has even gotten to this stage.”

Dean Kay, another Burbank resident, said if Universal’s current project was approved, it would be a carte blanche, allowing the company to “do anything they would like, [including] getting out of the film business and they can turn the entire park into Disneyland.”

Kay fears Universal will build four or five Las Vegas-style, theme park hotels to attract more tourists. “They have a history of building junk, real gaudy, cheesy stuff up on that hill,” he said.

Kay implored the commission to force Universal to unveil more precise details about its project. “Make them get specific. Make them go back to the drawing boards,” Kay said. “Make them wait until they mitigate noise, traffic, pollution and crime,” triggering applause from the audience.

Universal’s proposed expansion would roughly double its current building space over the next quarter century by adding 5.9 million square feet of studios, offices, theme park attractions and hotels, plus another 6.3 million square feet of parking space.

Universal City covers 415 acres, and 296 acres are in the unincorporated area of the county. Both the city and county planning departments are reviewing the project, although the county is the lead agency.

Henry Pinczower, who lives in Los Angeles, complained about both the length and vagueness of Universal’s proposal, and warned that in a few years another corporation may own the entertainment concern.

“You’re not going to be dealing with [the same executives] in five years, so you have got to set up in writing exactly what you are going to do.”

During the hearing, Commission Chairman Sadie Clark said, “It seems to me that noise and traffic are the serious issues.”

Etty Stewart has lived in the same Burbank house for 50 years, about a quarter of a mile from Universal’s property. “I am one irate citizen,” she said. Stewart told the commission of how her once-quiet neighborhood is now jolted by noise at all hours from the theme park, studios and various construction work.

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Universal’s current expansion plans, she said, are “nothing more than an inverse condemnation of our homes.”

Stewart said she was ready to give up and, at a reasonable price, sell her home to Universal. “They can get the noise, lights and the rest of the mess” that comes with it, she said.

This was the third meeting in the past six weeks to hear public comments from opponents and supporters of the project.

About 80 people showed up for the hearing in downtown Los Angeles.

Not everyone had a chance to speak, however, so the Planning Commission set another public hearing for Monday, April 14 at 3 p.m. at the Sportsmen’s Lodge on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.