‘Evolution Plan’ gets a new skeptic

It seems that NBC Universal’s unwieldy plan to build 2 million square feet of new commercial space, including 500 hotel guest rooms and 2,937 residential units, attracted a powerful new skeptic this week in Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

His voice adds potency to concerns expressed by Burbank officials two years ago that consultants hired by NBC Universal were underestimating the project’s impact to city infrastructure. With Yaroslavsky now expressing similar concerns, Burbank would do well to pile on.

The nearly 400-acre site for the $3-billion “Evolution Plan” in Universal City is bounded primarily by the Los Angeles Flood Control Channel, Lankershim Boulevard, Cahuenga Boulevard and Barham Boulevard — a position that Burbank officials say is bound to significantly impact the city’s west-side infrastructure.

Surely, the thousands of visitors, residents and employees that would saturate such a development would spill out into neighboring communities and stress already strained resources — public safety, parking, roadways, etc.

Burbank’s voice may have been drowned out by such a massive project, but when someone like Yaroslavsky enters stage-left with a megaphone and the spotlight, suddenly the production gets a whole lot more promising.