Disney’s Plan for Old Air Terminal Hits Turbulence

Walt Disney Co.’s creative campus has drawn rave reviews from business and civic leaders, who predict the project will add value and luster to an industrial area now dominated by drab warehouses and factories.

The reaction has been less enthusiastic from neighboring residents, who are expected to raise questions about the $2-billion development on 125 acres near the Golden State Freeway.

Since the release of a four-volume, 2,000-plus-page draft environmental impact report July 6, some Glendale residents have grumbled that city officials spend more time praising Disney than asking pointed questions about everything from seismic safety to potentially dangerous chemicals buried beneath the site.

“I don’t think there’s real opposition to the project per se,” said Rob Sharkey, a past president of the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council, which represents a number of homeowners organizations. “However, there’s a lot of concern about the impacts contained in the EIR, and people feel cornered by what appears to be a rush to approve this project.”

Sharkey and other residents are expected to attend today’s Glendale City Council meeting to comment on the project. The council meets at 3:30 p.m. at City Hall, 613 E. Broadway. Because the site is in a city redevelopment area, the council will be acting as head of the redevelopment agency.

City Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg disagreed that the city is rushing to approve the project. The council approved, over Bremberg’s opposition, a measure to extend the public comment period on the environmental report to 60 days. Bremberg said the original 45-day period was sufficient.

“City officials have praised Disney for their openness and willingness to meet with any group at any time at anyplace,” Bremberg said. “They’ve done that repeatedly and they’ve incorporated suggestions into their document.”

Since releasing details of the proposed campus a year ago, Disney executives have sought to portray a neighborhood-friendly development of four distinctive areas with green spaces and four- to six-story buildings.

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Plans call for 3.6 million square feet of offices, sound stages and studio production facilities on the 125-acre site. Disney currently owns 2.4 million square feet at the site, which is bordered by Western Avenue, Flower Street, Air Way and the Golden State Freeway.

The site has been a business park since the early 1960s. From 1928 through 1959, it was the site of the Grand Central Air Terminal. The original passenger terminal building and tower are still on the site, and Disney plans to convert them into a visitors center.

The anchor of the site would be Walt Disney Imagineering, the research and development arm of the company that designs theme park rides and other attractions.

Five thousand people work in the Grand Central Business Park, most of them Disney employees. In the EIR, Disney estimated that an additional 7,844 workers could be added by the new construction over the next 20 years.

Disney executives downplayed the potential effects of the project, which would be addressed through increased on-site parking, phased construction, improvements to freeway exits and local intersections as well as height restrictions on buildings near homes.

But according to documents filed with the city last year, zoning allows Disney to construct office towers up to 10 stories.

Sharkey and others say they intend to highlight environmental safety, traffic and building heights when the City Council holds hearings on the EIR.

In addition, some state agencies say consultants for the Disney EIR may need to provide a more complete accounting of issues from seismic hazards to chemical contamination.

In a letter to the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, officials with the state division of mines and geology questioned the analysis Disney used to determine ground shaking during an earthquake, saying their review did not adequately address issues of liquefaction.

“They determined a lower level of seismic shaking than we feel is appropriate for the site,” said David Beeby of the mines and geology division.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control is also reviewing the document, and additional mitigation could be necessary, department spokesman Ted Yargeau said.

Ed Chuchla, development director of Disney’s Imagineering division, said the company has been addressing community concerns from the outset and would continue its outreach efforts, exchange of information and answering questions about the project.

“This is exactly how the process moves forward,” Chuchla said.