BURBANK : Developer Regains Approval to Build

A Burbank developer, who since March has had the city’s blessing to build an office building on South Washington Street, had to regain that approval this week after officials found the project had been overlooked in the Rancho neighborhood protection plan.

The City Council in a 5-0 vote Tuesday granted an exemption from the zoning plan for the 42,000-square-foot office building planned by local Burbank developer Tim Behunin.

City Planner Rick Pruetz said the Rancho Master Plan, approved by the City Council last month, should have included language automatically granting an exemption to a pending project such as Behunin’s. However, that clause had been omitted because of a mistake by the city staff, he said.

The Rancho Master Plan was designed to protect the city’s Rancho neighborhood, noted for its single-family properties with horses. Behunin’s project would not have met code requirements limiting building heights.

“I think the neighborhood is tired of having an empty lot there,� said Councilman Dave Golonski who voted in favor of the project despite some reservations. The site at 820 Main St. had been occupied by Paramount Ice Cream years ago.

Behunin’s project, the only one pending when the Rancho Master Plan was approved, had met 5-year-old conditions placed on the property.

“Our firm is very selective about the type of building we develop,� Behunin told the council, adding that the project had exceeded city requirements by including more open space and more parking on the property.

But some neighbors were suspicious of how the exemption has been handled.

“It’s hard to see that a developer got caught totally unaware of this Master Plan issue,� said Elizabeth Handler, a leader of a Rancho homeowners’ group.