Council should provide more time for shake roofs

The Burbank Assn. of Realtors is concerned about the wood-shake-roof ordinance the City Council is scheduled to review on Feb 21. This 20-year-old ordinance is to take effect August and we feel will this could have an effect on many homeowners who cannot afford to replace currently serviceable roofs and also hamper the real estate recovery in our own city.

In light of the fact that residents received permits for roof-overs without signing any documents indicating they were aware of the pending mandate to replace wood shake roofs and roof-over shakes by 2012 until 2000 — eight years after the ordinance was passed — we feel that it is fair to ask the Burbank City Council to support an eight-year extension on roof-overs and a two-year extension on wood shake roofs.

This extension, we believe, would give the city of Burbank ample time to find replacement money for the now-defunct Redevelopment Agency, which used to help those who needed financial assistance with improvements on their homes.

The Burbank Assn. of Realtors has been in communication with several members of the City Council that initiated this ordinance back in 1992 and it was never their intent to impose any hardships on homeowners. They also could never have foreseen the economic climate we would be in at this time.

All this being said, the association and its members appreciate the great service our men and women of the Fire Department has always done here in Burbank. We realize it is a fine balance between economics and the safety of our firefighters.

We are asking that the Fire Department continue to do the exceptional job it has always done in protecting the citizens and its own firemen and women on the front lines. This is why we are not asking for a grandfathering of this ordinance, but rather a reasonable period of time to have a vast majority of the city in compliance with this ordinance.

In addition, due to current lending conditions and the negative stigma that such an action would create, the association requests that the City Council, in its enforcement of the wood-shake-roof ordinance, not impose any liens on title for roof-overs and wood shake roofs.

Christopher John Rizzotti

Burbank

Editor’s note: Rizzotti is president of the Burbank Assn. of Realtors.