It was not a knockout, but a bitter defeat just the same for backers of a proposed Whole Foods Market in Burbank. On Tuesday, Feb. 20, the Burbank City Council voted 3-2 to uphold a denial of the project by a planning board. The developer,
Tom Davies, came to the hearing packing a revised plan for a scaled-down version of a Whole Foods Market at South Main Street and West Alameda Avenue in the equestrian Rancho District. To sweeten the deal,
Tom Davies and his team offered new changes to mitigate traffic and ease parking concerns. Despite all of this, the proposals did not impress a very vocal minority that has portrayed the healthy foods market as a threat to the quality of life in the Rancho.
Fifty people signed up to speak on the issue
; more than twice that many filled out speaker cards at the Feb. 6 council meeting. That hearing wrapped up in the wee hours of the morning with the council giving the developer two weeks to come up with plans for reducing the size of the nearly 60,000 square-foot store. The developer shrunk the project down to 52,340 square feet. A nice effort, however, it was not good enough to win over all the members of the Burbank City Council. Not good enough to silence the voices predicting doom and destruction in Rancho if the project went forward.
At the core of the controversy is the traffic at the intersection of Main Street and Alameda Avenue. Opponents charged congestion is so bad at this intersection that additional traffic generated by the proposed upscale grocery store would create "a nightmare." If the traffic at that intersection is indeed a serious threat to children and horses
, as some claim
, something should be done about it immediately! Rancho project opponents repeatedly blamed the traffic problems in their neighborhood on outsiders. I find that bothersome. I agree with Councilman
Jef Vander Borght who said at Tuesday's meeting, "We are part of the traffic problem. We have to be part of the solution."
That is why I have trouble cheering this victory by the Rancho minority. They were brazen about protecting
their neighborhood and didn't seem to care about the rest of the city. Many admitted they wanted a Whole Foods Market in Burbank -- as long as the store and its possible problems were in someone else's neighborhood. One Rancho resident suggested, "Burbank is an oasis. Rancho is an oasis in that oasis."
I disagree. Rancho is not a separate enclave, but a part of Burbank; a growing media Mecca with a number of wonderful and unique neighborhoods. All should share the benefits and opportunities as well as the responsibilities and sacrifices that come with being included in this city.
I live in the gorgeous Burbank foothills. At times, I must travel through downtown Burbank to get home. These days that means dealing with traffic. Back when
Johnny Carson was king of late night television, Burbank was a sleepy little town. By nightfall, the downtown area would be pretty much deserted. Then came progress, development, and change. Downtown is now a popular center for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Residents from all over Burbank, including those in the Rancho, gravitate downtown.
If the folks in Rancho stayed in their "oasis" and visitors did not come from nearby cities, there would be less traffic downtown. That is not going to happen. Also, it would not be neighborly and, in my view, un-American to not welcome all comers. The city is working to manage the traffic problem in downtown Burbank and I encourage those efforts.
Meanwhile, there is still a glimmer of hope for a Whole Foods Market in Burbank. After the City Council voted to kill the project at Main and Alameda, it passed a motion offering assistance to the developer in finding another site for the proposed market. The question now is whether the developer is still interested, after taking some brutal hits during the Rancho experience. I hope so, for the sake of all the residents in Burbank.