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Residents prepare for construction
Several major infrastructure projects in the area are entering their development stages.
By Jason Wells
NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Residents who live along the northern end of the San Fernando Road corridor are bracing for tens of millions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects that are scheduled to enter their major construction phases this year.
From $7.5 million in railroad crossing improvements and additions to a $32.7-million “flyover” bridge off the Ventura (134) Freeway to San Fernando Road, city officials expect the large projects coming to Glendale’s north industrial corridor to play a big part in transforming the area from drab to luminous.
And like a moth to a flame, modern, safe and more efficient infrastructure attracts new businesses, new jobs and a more lucrative tax base, city officials say.
“All of those things are important to maintaining a healthy economy,” Development Services Director Philip Lanzafame said.
This year will see nearly all of the major infrastructure improvement projects that have been planned for the area enter their major development stages, many of them simultaneously, according to project schedules listed in city reports.
Work has already started on a bridge that will extend from the Fairmont Avenue exit of the Ventura Freeway, pass over San Fernando Road and end at Flower Street.
Construction on the Flower Street extension to San Fernando Road and an accompanying state-of-the-art railroad crossing is expected to begin as early as August. Nearby residents in the Pelanconi neighborhood staunchly oppose the $5.48-million project and what they say will result in an increase in traffic to their side streets.
That project, in turn, is part of a series of safety improvements planned for rail crossings at Grandview and Sonora avenues, as well as enhancements at the three crossings under shared jurisdiction with Los Angeles south of the Ventura Freeway, to be paid for with a city-furnished $2 million escrow account administered by Metrolink.
Work on the delayed San Fernando Road corridor beautification project — which was increased to a 10-foot setback after area residents decried the 3-foot-wide landscaping areas that had begun as too skimpy — has restarted and will likely be completed by summer’s end, city officials said.
“It will be a very busy corridor,” Public Works Director Steve Zurn said, adding that his department will try to minimize the impact of years of upcoming construction “as best we can.”
A $14.6-million plan to widen Flower Street between Sonora and Western avenues to the west of San Fernando Road is also scheduled to get underway soon after construction on its extension starts. The widening is in conjunction with a Caltrans project to redo and build additional ramps from the Golden State (5) Freeway to Western Avenue and Flower Street.
Taken together, residents say the projects are sure to further challenge the quality of life in an area that hosts a disjointed mix of uses, including sparkling new entertainment offices, industrial businesses, single-family homes and a city power plant.
“It’s not that anyone is opposed to progress and safety,” said Joanne Hedge, president of the Glendale Rancho Homeowners Assn.
“All of this is a heck a lot of money and impacts and noise and detours . . . to me that is going to be covering the next decade in this little place we call home.”
The infrastructure projects exclude the commercial development of the north San Fernando Road corridor’s two largest tenants — the Walt Disney Co.’s Grand Central Creative Campus and DreamWorks Animation just north of the city’s water treatment plant on Flower Street.
DreamWorks’ development agreement with the city allows for a total of 495,000 square feet of development, while Disney still has 3.5 million square feet left in its allowable build-out, development officials said.
The Fairmont flyover bridge, along with the street-widening projects, is seen by city officials as an important accommodation for the new employees that future expansion phases will bring to the city. The Flower Street extension to San Fernando Road, on the other hand, was a city expense listed in its development agreement with Disney.
“I don’t know what else you could put in our neighborhood,” said Judy Taylor, a board member on the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn., which has been vocal in its criticism of the Fairmont bridge, Flower Street crossing and the stalled San Fernando Road corridor beautification project.
Residents have started coalescing around the idea of monthly or quarterly meetings with city officials to keep up on construction work schedules in order to better plan for delays or noise.
Hank Sheetz, a board member for the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn., has pushed the concept as a way to keep up on possible impacts of the Flower Street extension and rail crossing, an idea city Traffic and Transportation Administrator Jano Baghdanian said he supports.
The meetings are now being looked at by other area residents as a way to address the broader impacts of all the planned construction for the corridor.
“It doesn’t have to be real complex,” Hedge said. “Right now, it’s all very broad and very vague. You just sort of wake up one day and it’s happening.”
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
From $7.5 million in railroad crossing improvements and additions to a $32.7-million “flyover” bridge off the Ventura (134) Freeway to San Fernando Road, city officials expect the large projects coming to Glendale’s north industrial corridor to play a big part in transforming the area from drab to luminous.
And like a moth to a flame, modern, safe and more efficient infrastructure attracts new businesses, new jobs and a more lucrative tax base, city officials say.
“All of those things are important to maintaining a healthy economy,” Development Services Director Philip Lanzafame said.
This year will see nearly all of the major infrastructure improvement projects that have been planned for the area enter their major development stages, many of them simultaneously, according to project schedules listed in city reports.
Work has already started on a bridge that will extend from the Fairmont Avenue exit of the Ventura Freeway, pass over San Fernando Road and end at Flower Street.
Construction on the Flower Street extension to San Fernando Road and an accompanying state-of-the-art railroad crossing is expected to begin as early as August. Nearby residents in the Pelanconi neighborhood staunchly oppose the $5.48-million project and what they say will result in an increase in traffic to their side streets.
That project, in turn, is part of a series of safety improvements planned for rail crossings at Grandview and Sonora avenues, as well as enhancements at the three crossings under shared jurisdiction with Los Angeles south of the Ventura Freeway, to be paid for with a city-furnished $2 million escrow account administered by Metrolink.
Work on the delayed San Fernando Road corridor beautification project — which was increased to a 10-foot setback after area residents decried the 3-foot-wide landscaping areas that had begun as too skimpy — has restarted and will likely be completed by summer’s end, city officials said.
“It will be a very busy corridor,” Public Works Director Steve Zurn said, adding that his department will try to minimize the impact of years of upcoming construction “as best we can.”
A $14.6-million plan to widen Flower Street between Sonora and Western avenues to the west of San Fernando Road is also scheduled to get underway soon after construction on its extension starts. The widening is in conjunction with a Caltrans project to redo and build additional ramps from the Golden State (5) Freeway to Western Avenue and Flower Street.
Taken together, residents say the projects are sure to further challenge the quality of life in an area that hosts a disjointed mix of uses, including sparkling new entertainment offices, industrial businesses, single-family homes and a city power plant.
“It’s not that anyone is opposed to progress and safety,” said Joanne Hedge, president of the Glendale Rancho Homeowners Assn.
“All of this is a heck a lot of money and impacts and noise and detours . . . to me that is going to be covering the next decade in this little place we call home.”
The infrastructure projects exclude the commercial development of the north San Fernando Road corridor’s two largest tenants — the Walt Disney Co.’s Grand Central Creative Campus and DreamWorks Animation just north of the city’s water treatment plant on Flower Street.
DreamWorks’ development agreement with the city allows for a total of 495,000 square feet of development, while Disney still has 3.5 million square feet left in its allowable build-out, development officials said.
The Fairmont flyover bridge, along with the street-widening projects, is seen by city officials as an important accommodation for the new employees that future expansion phases will bring to the city. The Flower Street extension to San Fernando Road, on the other hand, was a city expense listed in its development agreement with Disney.
“I don’t know what else you could put in our neighborhood,” said Judy Taylor, a board member on the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn., which has been vocal in its criticism of the Fairmont bridge, Flower Street crossing and the stalled San Fernando Road corridor beautification project.
Residents have started coalescing around the idea of monthly or quarterly meetings with city officials to keep up on construction work schedules in order to better plan for delays or noise.
Hank Sheetz, a board member for the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn., has pushed the concept as a way to keep up on possible impacts of the Flower Street extension and rail crossing, an idea city Traffic and Transportation Administrator Jano Baghdanian said he supports.
The meetings are now being looked at by other area residents as a way to address the broader impacts of all the planned construction for the corridor.
“It doesn’t have to be real complex,” Hedge said. “Right now, it’s all very broad and very vague. You just sort of wake up one day and it’s happening.”
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
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