Environmental Report

Buck Wargo CITY HALL An environmental report gauging the impact on a proposed expansion of the Walt Disney campus will be released today. PCR Services Corp. of Santa Monica, the same company that did the report on the DreamWorks SKG campus in Glendale, was selected by the city to do the evaluation. In September, Disney announced plans for a high-tech studio with sound stages and offices at its Grand Central Business Park, which it had been leasing for years but did not acquire until 1997.

Plans to turn the Jewel City Bowl into a parking lot for a new 110,000-square foot courthouse on Broadway are off the table, according to a state report, but courthouse construction may still jeopardize the longtime facility. Acquisition of the bowling alley proved to be too costly for state court officials, who decided to obtain the Board of Realtors site on Isabel Street for the new courthouse's secured parking structure, said Teresa Ruano, Administrative Office of the Courts spokeswoman.

All eyes seem to be on City Councilman Don Hansen as the controversial Poseidon project heads toward round two at City Hall. One of the four yes votes that approved the desalination plant's environmental report, Hansen has been the target of anti-Poseidon groups angry over the council's Sept. 6 decision. In e-mail forums and online discussion groups, Hansen has been crowned the swing vote for the next public hearing. "He's put himself in a very precarious position," land activist Ed Kerins said.

Alex Coolman NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Both the would-be developer of the Oakmont View V housing subdivision and the opponents of the project expressed strong criticism for the revised environmental report on the development, with each side arguing the consultant had made significant errors in the preparation of the report. The comments came at a public hearing Wednesday night on the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report. More than 400 people turned out for the hearing at the Glendale Civic Auditorium.

Josh Kleinbaum The Glendale Redevelopment Agency is expected to approve an additional $104,345 today to complete the Town Center's environmental report. One councilman blames the expenditure on General Growth Properties, owner of the Glendale Galleria, which has opposed the plan presented by Town Center developer Rick Caruso and is expected to submit extensive comments on the report. "General Growth has been the cause of all this additional cost in the [environmental report]

Tim Willert GLENDALE CITY HALL -- Developers of the failed Oakmont View V project will be back in front of the City Council on Tuesday, appealing a ruling on a plan to put a cemetery where the hillside development would have gone. The Greggs, whose 238-acre hillside housing project was rejected by the council in March, are seeking a general plan amendment and a zone change so they can build the cemetery. In January, the Environmental and Planning Board ruled that a separate environmental impact report would be required before moving forward with a cemetery.

Josh Kleinbaum Exactly three weeks before city residents vote on a controversial retail and residential development in downtown Glendale, the city's Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday approved more than $550,000 to defend the project in court after the election. The agency, made up of members of the City Council, approved an additional $550,000 for Morrison and Foerster, a law firm defending the project's environmental approvals in Superior Court. The increase brings the city's total contract with Morrison and Foerster for the Americana at Brand project to $1 million.

Josh Kleinbaum When the city released the first version of the environmental impact report for the Town Center, Councilman Dave Weaver described it as one of the best he had ever seen. The city paid more than $500,000 to have an independent consultant put together the three-volume, seven-inch-thick document, which analyzes the effects of the 15.5-acre residential and retail project on the community. In a 108-page lawsuit filed Monday, General Growth Properties, owners of the Glendale Galleria, rip the document, saying that it is nothing more than a rubber stamp for developer Rick Caruso's project, not an unbiased guide for the City Council.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- Antihillside development forces have been unsuccessful in getting the city to hand over internal documents tied to the Oakmont View V development. Glendale has turned down the request of Volunteers Organized in Conserving the Environment, which filed an open records request March 6 during a public hearing on the project's environmental report. The group wants internal memos relating to a 1996 court agreement allowing Gregg Development to process the 572-home project under a less restrictive ordinance in effect in 1992.

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- If the sound of snare drums is wafting through the air this weekend, that's no doubt because the opposing sides of the Oakmont View V debate are preparing to do battle at Wednesday's public hearing on the project's environmental impact report. City officials expect the meeting, to be held at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, to be big. The meeting held in March 2000 for the previous environmental report drew 800 attendees. The would-be developer of the 572-home Oakmont project is Gregg's Artistic Homes.

Local residents battling the proposed extension of the Long Beach (710) Freeway are watching hopefully as pressure rises on transportation officials to jettison plans for a 4.5-mile tunnel connecting the 710 to the Foothill (210) Freeway. But the decision is more than a year away, and activists are girding for everything from a lobbying battle to a lawsuit. On Tuesday the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to oppose a tunnel, joining South Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge and Glendale in taking a stance against the project.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday joined several othercities in voting unanimously to oppose a tunnel extension of the Long Beach (710) Freeway through Pasadena. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials last week narrowed the scope of possible routes for closing the so-called 710 gap between Alhambra and Pasadena from 12 to just five - one of them an extension of the 710 Freeway to the Foothill (210) Freeway. MTA officials have maintained that they have not settled on any one option, but critics say the agency favors the tunnel because it could better accommodate truck traffic carrying cargo up from local Southland ports.

Plans to turn the Jewel City Bowl into a parking lot for a new 110,000-square foot courthouse on Broadway are off the table, according to a state report, but courthouse construction may still jeopardize the longtime facility. Acquisition of the bowling alley proved to be too costly for state court officials, who decided to obtain the Board of Realtors site on Isabel Street for the new courthouse's secured parking structure, said Teresa Ruano, Administrative Office of the Courts spokeswoman.

An environmental impact report now being circulated by the city of Los Angeles finds that a proposed housing development proposed for the land occupied by the Verdugo Hills Golf Course would have a “substantial adverse impact on scenic vistas” in the area. The draft report, prepared by Christopher A. Joseph and Associates, will be circulated for 60 days, with comments due by July 20. The report can be viewed at the Sunland Tujunga Branch Library, 7771 Foothill Blvd.

GLENDALE — A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed against the city that claimed officials failed to adequately address the impacts of a major downtown planning document, but the underlying fight will continue. The man behind that fight — frequent City Hall critic Herbert Molano — said he will eventually appeal the dismissal as he continues his quest for more open government and accountability. That effort has often been the source of contention between him and city officials, who often bear the brunt of his sometimes acidic critiques on management and performance.

CITY HALL — The City Council approved the environmental impact report for the city's Downtown Specific Plan Tuesday, after heavy deliberation and comment from members of the public. Council members Bob Yousefian and Rafi Manoukian cast the dissenting votes. The plan sets specific guidelines and rules for development within Glendale's downtown, breaking the area up into 11 different districts with varied regulations on height and density in each. In developing the plan, city officials met with an advisory group of local business owners and community members to decide what would be the best plan of action.

At this point, I believe it is useless for General Growth to appeal the Appellate Court decision to the Supreme Court. It is obvious that the courts base their decision on a flawed Environmental Impact Report that upholds the views of the City Council and staff that Fire Station 21 is not deemed to be historic. That is why the council voted to approve the environmental report for the Americana. This is in direct conflict with the decision by the City Council and staff in 1996, which recommended incorporation of the old Fire Station 21 into the design of the Town Center to preserve it as an historic entity, which it is. The majority of the City Council wanted the Town Center as proposed by Caruso Affiliated Holdings, at any price.

Plenty is being read into the Huntington Beach City Council's narrow 4-3 decision to approve the environmental report for the Poseidon desalination plant. Some say it looks likely that the same majority will OK the final project later this fall. Others think the plan might get derailed, if not by the council then by the California Coastal Commission. All that will remain conjecture until the council's decision. What shouldn't happen now is for too much to be read into what already has happened.

Effects of plant will linger for years After more than five hours of public testimony on the Poseidon environmental report, it was disappointing and shocking to witness the majority of the Huntington Beach City Council disregard the concerns in opposition to the report. Huntington Beach's largest tourist attraction and thus revenue generator is our beach. This ocean desalination plant is to be built in the exact location where the beach closures in Huntington Beach have taken place over the years.

All eyes seem to be on City Councilman Don Hansen as the controversial Poseidon project heads toward round two at City Hall. One of the four yes votes that approved the desalination plant's environmental report, Hansen has been the target of anti-Poseidon groups angry over the council's Sept. 6 decision. In e-mail forums and online discussion groups, Hansen has been crowned the swing vote for the next public hearing. "He's put himself in a very precarious position," land activist Ed Kerins said.