By Julie BUTCHER

Issues surrounding the possible future development of several city-owned parking lots in Montrose and along Verdugo Road continue to dominate debate at Glendale City Hall. At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Glendale City Council, Councilmember Vartan Gharpetian moved to agendize the removal of the parking lots from the state’s list of surplus properties and to exclude the lots from the Land Use element of the city’s general plan, currently being updated as is required by state law.

Mayor Ara Najarian voted with Councilmember Gharpetian to remove the properties from the Surplus Land Act (SLA) list but was unable to secure the removal of the city-owned residential overlay (CORO) properties from the general plan, thwarted by Robert’s Rules of Order as no councilmember on the prevailing side was willing to bring up the matter for reconsideration.

Councilmember Dan Brotman explained that he prefers to follow “the procedure” for evaluating the plans. 

“With the question of the CORO, we may well decide to take one, several or all off the Land Use element ultimately, and I may end up supporting that, depending on what we find through the process. I just think that we should follow the process which is: there’s an EIR. We’re going to get a draft EIR; we’re going to get a final EIR, and then it comes to Council, and we have every opportunity to make changes before it’s adopted. I think that’s the right way to do things.

“We’re hearing concerns from the public, and we’ve heard a lot and it’s acknowledged, clearly. But we have a process where we’re going to get a lot more input through the EIR – that’s a big part of what an EIR is – we’re going to go through the CEQA process, the California Environmental Quality Act process, and get a lot more input,” said Councilmember Brotman who added he believes it is “just too early.”

Councilmember Gharpetian countered, “That’s the biggest problem. The community has spoken. They don’t want these lots to be developed, for there to be zone changes, for them to be part of the SLA, regardless of the results of the EIR.”

Patrick Murphy read parts of a letter from Crescenta Valley community leader Susan Bolan responding to Mayor Najarian’s comments at last week’s meeting regarding the Montrose Vision 2020 Plan developed in 2016. 

“At the meeting, you stated that you seem to recall . . . stakeholders expressed a desire to increase foot traffic and add more parking, possibly through a multi-storied parking structure. The implication of your statement was that CORO allowing large multi-family apartments to be built on the Montrose ‘surplus property lots’ would fulfill the goals of the plan.”

“I’m glad you will be reviewing the plan for clarity,” Bolan’s letter continued. “I read the 24-page vision plan this week. While residents and business owners expressed a desire for marketing, strategy, rebranding in Montrose to increase foot traffic, nowhere in the plan did it identify residential housing as the solution to bring people to the shopping park. In fact, stakeholders expressed that making Montrose even more charming through a balance of business, artwork and beautiful landscaping and hardscape would attract more visitors. Comments under ‘Infrastructure, Goal 2,’ focused on the physical appearance, safety and the usability of the parking lots, with a possible Parking Advisory Committee being formed in the future.

“My question to you: Was such a committee formed and what were their recommendations regarding the Montrose parking lots? I’m confident that the response wasn’t to change the zoning to allow multi-story, multi-family housing to be built there.” 

Montrose Shopping Park Association President Andre Ordubegian told the Council that through numerous meetings he believes city staff is on the path to removing the lots from consideration of future development. 

“We’ve told you over and over again that we simply don’t want it,” he said.

Also on Tuesday night, a new ordinance updating the process by which the Council selects a mayor was introduced, reverting the selection process back to simply requiring a majority vote of the members of the Council rather than the criteria and procedures in place since 2021. The new rules change the timing of the selection from April to July to align with changes to the dates of municipal elections.

Additionally, the Council reviewed an annual financial audit and financial updates for the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Independent auditors from the firm CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP gave the city an “unmodified opinion,” the “cleanest or highest opinion that an agency can receive,” City Manager Roubik Golanian told the Council.

Finance Director Jack Liang reported sales tax decreases of 5.5% for Glendale for FY 2024-25, compared with decreases across Los Angeles County of 1.1% and for the State of California of 0.5%. For Glendale, these decreases may be attributable to the city’s dependence on automobile sales tax.

During FY 24-25, the city spent $239,964,134 on salaries and benefits, up 12% from the previous year, and $73,179,013 on maintenance and operations, down 2.3% from FY 23. Total expenditures for FY 24-25 were $330,015,806; total revenues for the same fiscal period were $341,306,714 and the reserves were calculated at 42.5%.

City policy requires a general reserve of at least 25% of the annual operation budget with a target of 35%. Future estimates flash red fiscal lights starting in FY 27-28.

Glendale Fire Fighters Association Local 776 Vice President Chris Jernegan urged the Council to consider a public safety parcel tax, “which is essential to meeting and improving the level of service our residents deserve.”

“Glendale is a city that prides itself on safety, preparedness and community trust, but the reality we face today is that safety infrastructure – both fire and police – is being pushed beyond its limit. Decades of data show the growing imbalance between service demands and available resources,” Jernegan detailed.

“Call volume has doubled since 2005 yet sworn firefighter staffing is lower now than it was in 2006 … data-driven findings show that we’re operating below recommended staffing levels, facility capacity and unit distribution based on modern standards and community risk. Glendale has fewer firefighters per resident than nearly all of our surrounding agencies while experiencing higher call volumes. Several of our fire stations are functionally outdated, built for a different era of the fire service before today’s population density, incident complexity, EMS demand and wildfire threats. Some stations cannot properly house modern apparatus, do not meet current seismic standards and lack space needed for training, decontamination and cancer-mitigating practices.”

Earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, councilmembers announced several upcoming events and activities:

Glendale Beautiful invites all to experience the historic Casa Adobe de San Rafael at 1330 Dorothy Drive illuminated by candlelight for the Fiesta de Las Luminarias on Saturday, Dec. 20 beginning at 6 p.m. More information about the free event can be found at https://www.glendaleca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/54746/.

Residents and businesses are invited to decorate their exteriors and compete in a citywide holiday decorating contest for a chance to be one of four recognized winners. To participate, upload pictures at GlendaleCA.gov/Wintercontest.

Walk Bike Glendale is hosting a Holiday Bike Ride on Sunday, Dec. 21, starting at Nibley Park, 1103 E. Mountain St., at 4:30 p.m. Participants are urged to wear warm clothes and bring a bike in working condition. For more information, see details at https://walkbikeglendale.wordpress.com/.