Updated on Oct. 17, 2025 in bold and italics below:

By Julie BUTCHER

Rather than meeting at as it normally does at Glendale City Hall on Tuesday night, the Glendale City Council took its meeting into the community, this time meeting at the Sparr Heights Community Center in Glendale’s Sparr Heights neighborhood.

Four of five members of the council attended the “special meeting” (absent was Councilmember Dan Brotman), which featured updates, public input and an informal period for Glendalians to ask questions and make suggestions directly to council members, department heads and city staff.

Most of the public comments from the 29 people in attendance centered around concerns about increasing housing density, highlighted by the recent signing of controversial housing legislation SB 79 (which allows developers to build apartment buildings in designated transit corridors without much oversight by the city), and discussions about the city’s land use plans.

Others commented both for and against plans underway for the reconstruction and reconfiguring of La Crescenta Avenue, particularly plans to eliminate traffic lanes and some parking to make room for protected bike lanes.

Senior civil engineer and project manager Rustom Tavitian shared an update on the La Crescenta Avenue rehabilitation project noting that during the construction, which has already started, residents can expect traffic delays, road closures, reduced parking and driveway closures. The project will install new sewer lines; reconstruct the street’s curbs and gutters, alleys, driveways and sidewalks; repave the street using bio-retentive and reflective updated materials; install curb ramps that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); realign an intersection; make traffic signal and fiber optic improvements; install new signage, striping and creative crosswalks; plant new trees; and remove one travel lane in each direction to accommodate a center two-way left-turn lane and dedicated bicycle lanes.

Project details can be found on the city’s website GlendaleCA.gov/LaCrescentaRehab.

“Please reconsider the trial bike lanes before class 4 barrier lanes are put in,“ said Gigi Garcia, vice-president of the Montrose Shopping Park Association (MSPA) board of directors and a Honolulu Avenue business owner. She added rolling out the project without a test was  unconscionable. Garcia referenced the tragic January fires, noting the difficulty in evacuating neighborhoods with only one street in and out; “I only have one bridge to get in or out.” Garcia also added her advocacy that the council remove the Montrose area parking lots from the city’s land use plans.

Ana Tabuena-Ruddy stood “with my neighbors here [she pointed to a few others] in strong support for these bike lanes, for these permanent improvements. My now 14-year-old son can’t wait and we are looking to celebrate in December.”

Frequent council critic Beth Brooks wanted a cost-benefit analysis to justify spending millions of dollars on the 1% of Glendale’s population that rides a bicycle.

Ejmin Hakobian expressed appreciation for the street improvements and sewer reconstruction but asked the council to find a compromise “in light of budgetary concerns.” He criticized the “way the project was pushed through.”

Next, Fire Chief Jeff Brooks shared a detailed update of the new “Zone Zero” plan requiring the creation of a new defensible ember-resistant space of five feet around a home’s perimeter in the areas deemed very high in fire severity risk. There are current discussions ongoing about trees and plants within the five feet.

Glendale fire department’s website has more information about the new legislation: https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/fire-department/fire-department/vmp/zone-0.

“The ‘one size fits all’ approach often ends up with one size fits none,” commented Tabuena-Ruddy adding that some vegetation such as oak trees may be beneficial and that other means of home-hardening against fire may be more effective.

Finally, Rockhaven senior project manager Arthur Asaturyan shared an update. Work is underway on the Montrose property and the contractors from Maestro Development are “being careful to preserve anything they find that might be historic” while removing existing pathways that do not meet ADA accessibility standards, reviewing materials to be used, and preparing for the abatement of hazardous materials in the Pines Cottage. Next the work will include grading, foundations, building and rebuilding retaining and stone walls. 

During the informal discussion part of the meeting, local resident Susan Bolan asked about the retention of historic bricks and plans for securing the Rockhaven property against rain. Bricks with mortar still attached cannot be reused; the buildings are presumably safe from rain because of the tarps, city management told her.

Alex Balekian demanded that the council immediately act to agendize Glendale’s temporary withdrawal from the North Hollywood-Pasadena BRT project “in light of the passage of SB 79.” Ninety-four percent of the project includes dedicated bus lanes along Glenoaks, Central and Broadway and the new law will allow massive apartment buildings within a half a mile of the bus lane coming down the middle of Glendale. Pulling out of the BRT, Balekian insisted, “is the only local control possibly remaining.”

Transportation and Parking Commissioner Alek Bartrosouf thanked the council for doing these council meetings in the neighborhoods and reported that there were changes made to the housing legislation during deliberations which might allay some of the concerns about the loss of local control. 

“There’s a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding out there,” he said.

Following the three reports and public commenting, city officials, including the councilmembers and department heads made themselves available to answer questions, hear suggestions and chat. Most of those in attendance took advantage of the opportunity.

The council will be back at city hall, 613 E. Broadway in Glendale on Tuesday at 6 p.m.