Design Review

Josh Kleinbaum The City Council introduced an ordinance Tuesday night intended to expedite the design review process for new buildings, major additions and renovations. The revised ordinance, which is expected to be approved next week, gives more power to an appeals board and reduces the number of public hearings a project must undergo before receiving a final decision. "We told staff, go back and streamline it," Mayor Bob Yousefian said. "In the original system, it would be five public hearings before coming to the council.

The design review process Glendale has had in place for nearly 20 years is facing some major changes, following City Council action Tuesday. The city set up a system with two design review boards after considerable debates over mansionization in single family neighborhoods in the 1980s. Many of the issues remain the same, but no one had a kind word to say about how the boards have functioned since they were set up. Speakers complained that the boards are making arbitrary decisions, ignoring compatibility and other issues, and are taking far too long to process their cases.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- The Design Review Board No. 1 will analyze seven projects today. The board will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 105 of the Municipal Services Building, 633 E. Broadway. Projects on the agenda are: 604 Benowe Scotia Road -- constructing a home. 829 Ridge Drive -- converting a two-car garage to a living area and building a garage. 2340 Sylvan Lane -- adding on to a home. 2901 Greenwich Road -- constructing a home and two-car garage.

CITY HALL — The final version of Glendale’s design review overhaul took a slightly less restrictive form Tuesday after supermajority support on the City Council over the required use of on-site temporary frames for proposed second stories couldn’t be reached. Instead, the council unanimously passed a version that would leave that decision to the discretion of the city’s Planning Department. It was a concession that made those who had originally pushed for the stronger option of an overhaul — which gives more authority to city planners and curtail the authority of the city’s two Design Review boards — uneasy.

Somewhat to their own surprise, Glendale City Council members managed a unanimous 5-0 vote at Tuesday?s March 25 meeting on reforms in the design review process for single family homes. The council has been working for several months on changes for the city?s two design review boards, including moving meetings to evenings and removing some members who had sparked controversy in the past. For the previous two weeks the council had been debating changes in procedure, designed to increase power of city staff and discourage boards from taking multiple looks at a project.

CITY HALL — With the application period for city commissioners now passed, the City Council on Tuesday began the process of reappointing their picks to a plethora of open seats. On Tuesday, Councilmen Dave Weaver and John Drayman each reappointed six commissioners to their posts. The rest of the appointments are expected in the coming weeks. “I’m hoping to do it fairly quickly,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman. The City Council last month put nearly all city commissioners up for revotes as a part of a new ordinance changing the terms of city boards and commissions to run concurrently with the four-year term of the nominating council member.

CITY HALL — The city’s two Design Review boards were officially reconstituted Tuesday after Councilman Bob Yousefian’s colleagues voted unanimously to confirm his two revised nominations three weeks after his original choices fell flat amid harsh criticism. Glendale residents Brian Ellis and Randy Carter will soon take their seats on Design Review boards No. 1 and 2, respectively, ahead of what will be an extensive overhaul of the entire review process for single-family homes.

CITY HALL — With the application period for city commissioners now passed, the City Council on Tuesday began the process of reappointing their picks to a plethora of open seats. On Tuesday, Councilmen Dave Weaver and John Drayman each reappointed six commissioners to their posts. The rest of the appointments are expected in the coming weeks. “I’m hoping to do it fairly quickly,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman. The City Council last month put nearly all city commissioners up for revotes as a part of a new ordinance changing the terms of city boards and commissions to run concurrently with the four-year term of the nominating council member.

The lengthy controversy surrounding a proposed 3-story building at the former Foothill Builders and Lumber site at 3522 Foothill Boulevard came to a close last night. The City Council voted 4 to 0 to deny the developer’s appeal of a unanimous denial in April by Design Review Board No. 2. Councilwoman Laura Friedman recused herself from the decision as she had served on Design Review Board No. 2 during the project’s initial review stages. “It’s just too big and quite frankly I don’t understand why it continued on the same track,” said Mayor Frank Quintero.

At its April 9 meeting, Design Review Board No. 2 made the correct decision regarding the proposed development at the Foothill Lumber site. The City Council should uphold the board’s finding. Yes, as one of the board members pointed out, there are Foothill Boulevards all over the country. Add to it, however, the scenic views and small-town atmosphere that prevail in the Glendale Annex, and you have a unique community with which proposed development must be compatible. Therein lies both the mission of the Design Review Board and the crux of the current controversy.

CITY HALL — The City Council, frustrated by homeowners who skirt regulations when building out their properties, introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would put the city on firmer legal ground in enforcing the rules. If the ordinance is adopted next week, some on the council made it clear they wouldn’t think twice about enforcing existing regulations to the letter, even if it meant forcing property owners to tear down illegally built structures. Mayor John Drayman took it a step further, telling city planners that they had the “collective political capital” on the dais to bring back even stricter regulations to reign in illegal second-story additions and other violations that have ticked off entire neighborhoods in the past.

Money, topic ?A? on the state and federal government scene, is likely to be a major issue in the upcoming city general election, filing for which opens this week. By various counts, eight or more challengers may test the campaign skills of the three council incumbents seeking re-election, Bob Yousefian, Ara Najarian and Frank Quintero. Yousefian positioned himself early on as a fiscal critic by voting against the current city budget, though his colleagues have pointed out privately that he supported most of the budget components in earlier discussions.

SOUTH GLENDALE ? A major mixed-use residential complex proposed for the lot next to Glendale Memorial Hospital, once ?dead in the water,? has been revived after the developer renegotiated a cheaper land purchase price to make the project work, officials said. The so-called ?Triangle Project? at 3900 San Fernando Road would include 218 residential units above 54,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 707 semi-underground parking spots. And all of it is planned at market rate, with no affordable housing element or major city subsidies.

CITY HALL ? A proposed mixed-use development that would replace an Albertsons in northwest Glendale won high praise from a city Design Review Board on Thursday for its style and pedestrian-friendly elements. The proposal ? which would demolish the supermarket at 1855 W. Glenoaks Blvd. in favor of 12,848 square feet of commercial space, 105 residential units and 318 underground parking spaces ? has found friends and foes in the relatively dense northwest Glendale neighborhood. Nearby apartment dwellers have protested the plan by San Francisco-based developer GL Property Development LLC over fears that it would add too much traffic to side streets and remove a convenient supermarket.

Four major surgeries, six months of chemotherapy, countless hours of nausea, and for Laura Friedman Lemoine, the effects of her March 2006 breast cancer diagnosis are still being felt. Her seemingly constant state of medical crisis over the past two years has, even for this self-assured civic volunteer, taken its toll. ?You?re never free of it, ever,? she says in her modest mid-century living room overlooking Glendale. But as chairwoman of Design Review Board No. 2, Friedman Lemoine trudged through the invasive medical procedures and side effects while serving on one of the most laborious city commissions.