Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, whose district includes land directly south of Burbank, said that residents have raised some valid concerns.
"It's a very sensitive issue," he said. "If it was possible, I could do it without any impact, I would."
The city needs the new sewer to improve the aging facilities that Los Angeles relies on, and to prevent potential overflows or spills, he said.
Los Angeles shares its sewer-treatment facilities with 27 other municipalities, including Burbank, LaBonge said.
"We all need a sewer," he said.
The environmental impact report that the city of Los Angeles conducted suggests two alignments for the sewer, one on the south side of the Los Angeles River, and one on the north. The northern alignment of the sewer would cut through portions of Burbank, including shafts to be located in Bob Hope Park and near the corner of Valleyheart Drive and Reese Place.
"Shafts are access points for the tunnel-boring machine," Anderson explained. "They're about 60-feet wide and 100-feet deep."
Using a tunnel-boring machine is better than the old fashioned method of digging all along the sewer route, because it helps reduce the impact along the tunnel route, he said, but at the shaft site machines still generate noise, vibrations and dust.
Along the northern route, much of this would be taking place near residential areas. Along the southern route, the shafts would be more isolated, Anderson said.
The northern route would call for a water-treatment facility in the area at the corner of Valleyheart Drive and Reese Place, known to local residents as the polliwog.
