WILL ROGERS

Will Rogers

First, I want you to know that the election results were not available

before the deadline on this column. I haven’t forgotten that you’re

reading this on the day after election day. I just can’t do anything

about it.

Next, I have to declare that I have spent thousands of dollars at Home

Depot, a warehouse-like enterprise that offers a mind-boggling array of

building materials, tools and other stuff my wife wants me to install.

Given the sorry state of my house, and the number of my recent home

improvement projects calling out to be redone -- properly this time -- I

may have more construction projects going on than the school district.

I admit that in part as a disclaimer, and to explain the likely reason

I was among many Burbank residents receiving a letter from my pals at

Home Depot this week.

“I am pleased to let you know that The Home Depot proposes to build a

new store in Burbank,” my friends wrote. The letter was signed by Greg

George, Home Depot’s Real Estate Manager for the Western Region.

*

George’s letter described some of the benefits Burbank will enjoy if

his company wins approvals from “the elected officials who will evaluate

our proposal.”

A reply card with the letter encourages people to voice their support

by contacting public officials and attending public hearings. I haven’t

seen a public relations campaign as aggressive as this one since a local

studio was looking to win a controversial approval for a 20-year master

plan bringing a gagillion square feet of new office towers into town.

Like readers who contacted me about receiving the same letter, I

surmised Home Depot must be asking Burbank for some potentially

contentious waivers, or perhaps even for some cash incentives. I was

surprised to learn neither is the case.

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To open the proposed store, Home Depot needs a conditional use permit.

CUPs are considered by the Planning Board, a panel of five City Council

appointees. Unless someone is unhappy with the board’s ruling and appeals

it to the City Council, CUPs aren’t actually handled by elected

officials.

According to Bob Tague, Burbank’s Community Development Director, the

CUP process lets the city impose restrictions on some projects, most

calculated to protect local neighborhoods. For example, home improvement

stores often encounter conflicts with their neighbors over an influx of

day laborers using the stores as a de facto employment center.

“The CUP lets us make sure handling that and making any fixes required

is Home Depot’s problem, not the city’s,” Tague said.

The proposed site, on Flower Street between Allen and Alameda, was

contaminated by a former land owner. In procedures Burbankers have seen

in operation too many times already, Home Depot will have to

decontaminate the property to standards set by the state’s Regional Water

Quality Board. While oversight of such cleanups is largely in the hands

of state authorities, the city has a long record of closely watching

those operations.

There’s also an unusual quirk involved with the project. A small

portion of the new store would be in the Glendale city limits. Tague said

staff from both cities are negotiating agreements that would have

Glendale receiving a share of the store’s sales taxes -- a percentage

based upon how much of the project is in that city -- and giving Burbank

the right to oversee the various approvals and inspections.

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The proposed Home Depot in Burbank will sit between two others, one in

North Hollywood, the other in Glendale. I was surprised there’s enough

business to keep three stores going in such close proximity, but the move

may be necessary for Home Depot to maintain its Burbank customers. One of

their major competitors, Lowe’s, is scheduled to open a store in the new

Burbank Empire Center project next year. Store and city officials have

told me that central location is expected to draw Home Depot customers

eager to abandon regular drives into North Hollywood and Glendale. That

rationale rings true for me.

The funny thing about Home Depot’s letter, the newsletter with it and

the reply card, is that the firm’s attempt to generate support and

encourage public input has apparently caused more concern than there

might have been without them. Many readers have contacted me, worried

about exactly what it is the company hopes to generate support for. City

officials tell me they’re getting similar calls.

In Burbank, when a company starts boasting about the sales taxes it

will bring in, the people who will be employed and about the company’s

good deeds, we start flipping the paper over to find a big catch in the

fine print. Thus far, there doesn’t appear to be a catch. But what Home

Depot surely considers to be a preemptive effort to win public support

has probably guaranteed that some will be paying much closer attention

than they would have been otherwise.

I will continue to patronize smaller hardware and supply centers in

Burbank, especially when I need more than a few seconds of a clerk’s time

and don’t want to be surrounded by other customers, circling like sharks

waiting to pounce on the same clerk. But if the proposed store wins the

approvals it needs, I confess I will watch with glee as Home Depot and

Lowe’s wage war to win my business -- and that is a substantial prize to

be won.

Will Rogers’ column appears in every edition of the Leader. He can be

reached 24 hours a day at 241-4141 voice mail ext. 906, or by e-mail at

WillColumn@aol.com.