BURBANK, RESIDENTS OPPOSE SEWER ROUTE.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

BURBANK -- The City Council has vowed to fight a proposed Los Angeles sewer expansion that would run part of a four-mile pipe under the city and near some residences.

At a council meeting Tuesday that served as a rally against the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer, city leaders ordered staff members to investigate whether the routing process followed state environmental law, and to consider ways to limit neighborhood impact when construction begins in 2011.

``We have to push back,'' Councilwoman Marsha Ramos said.

The sewer is part of Los Angeles' Integrated Resources Plan, which prepares for the city's growing water treatment needs in the next 20 years. It's half of a planned sewer line extending from the L.A.-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant west to the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the Sepulveda Basin.

The route, recommended in the project's Sept. 11 final environmental impact report, cuts though Burbank under Forest Lawn Drive, Pass Avenue and Riverside Drive, though most of it will run beneath Griffith Park on the way to North Hollywood.

There are no surface shaft sites in the city for construction crews, who will be drilling at least 100 feet below ground. But that's no comfort to area residents who fear noise, congestion and fumes.

``Even if they're underground, you have cars going back and forth,'' resident Stan Hyman said Wednesday. ``And there's settling. Nobody's saying, don't put the sewer line in, but is this really the best location?''

Burbank council members, including Ramos and David Golonski, also attacked Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge, who they said influenced the sewer alignment to minimize impact to his 4th District, which includes North Hollywood, at their expense.

LaBonge said Wednesday he reached out to local residents and the Burbank council earlier this year to find the best route.

``We worked with Burbank in a very cooperative spirit,'' he said. ``But we have to share in some of these projects. They may not like that alignment, but that's the best alignment right now. Los Angeles treats the water of 27 additional cities and districts. We all have to work together.''

Los Angeles treats the 3 million gallons of sewage Burbank produces each day -- about 1 percent of the amount the system handles per year.

Though Burbank residents and city leaders recognized there's no preventing the sewer project, Hyman said they can at least limit construction nuisance. ``Burbank simply has to say to Los Angeles, `We're not going to give you an easement to go through Burbank unless we see something in writing,''' said Hyman, also a board member of the Toluca Lake Homeowners Association.

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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