No temporary controls for the Rancho District

CITY HALL—The council opted against pursuing an interim ordinance that would temporarily control development in the Rancho District, choosing to confront the issue in three weeks when an item specifically concerning the Rancho Master Plan goes before the council.

The decision came after a council consensus that wrangling over the specifics of an Interim Development Control Ordinance, or IDCO, would be unnecessary in light of a forthcoming staff report that will outline zoning in the Rancho District and how some amendments have changed permitted land uses.

"I completely support working with the residents in the Rancho area," Mayor Marsha Ramos said. "I recognize there was concern on Main [Street] and Alameda [Avenue], but I am very much looking forward to staff returning on June 26 for a report regarding a zone text amendment for the Rancho area."

Concern for revisiting protections in the Rancho District arose in March when residents turned out en mass in opposition to a Whole Foods market that was proposed for the corner of Main and Alameda. Some residents argued that a project's scope and size would pose traffic and safety hazards in the largely equestrian neighborhood.

Though the council ultimately rejected the Whole Foods development, some residents urged the council to revisit provisions of the 1993 Rancho Master Plan that were largely superseded by a zone text amendment that was adopted in 1998.

But since the council will specifically discuss the master plan at a subsequent meeting, putting an interim ordinance in place would be an unneeded step, Vice Mayor Dave Golonski said.

"The real purpose of an IDCO is when you're concerned that a development can go in by right that will not be subject to any discretionary review and you're in the process of changing the standards and you don't want a development to go through by right in the meantime," he said. "But we've instituted in Burbank that any project that generates more than 50 peak-hour trips requires a discretionary review. So I think that the type of projects that we are already concerned about … would already be subject for a discretionary review."

In addition, if a developer were to submit a project that raises concerns in a neighborhood, an interim ordinance could be adopted as a protective measure at any time, Councilman Gary Bric said.

"I just don't see the need to do it at this time, especially that to do one there would have to be reasons concerning public health, safety, or welfare,"" he said. "I just don't see any reason for doing it now."

The council will now revisit the Rancho Master Plan on June 26, while city planners are in the midst of updating a general land-use plan and mobility element, which sets a blue print for future development citywide.

Councilman David Gordon, who had brought the idea of an interim ordinance to the council, was the lone vote against the council's decision on Tuesday.

Gordon argued that he wanted to memorialize the intended protections of the Rancho Master Plan while the city continued to clarify zoning provisions in the area.