HOME DEPOT SAYS IT WILL OFFSET INCREASED TRAFFIC IN STORE AREA.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK - Home Depot is working to allay concerns about traffic, air quality and day laborers as it moves forward on a planned home-improvement warehouse on the border of Glendale and Burbank.

The project is scheduled to be considered for approval at a city Planning Board meeting March 1. City Councilman Todd Campbell said Thursday that he is pleased Home Depot has agreed to pay for additional street improvements to deal with increased traffic.

``Will that solve it? Time's going to tell,'' he said.

The Home Depot, which would be at Flower Street and Allen Avenue and would be open 16 hours a day, is expected to create 5,965 daily vehicle trips into and out of the store, according to the environmental impact report for the project.

It could also generate 842 total peak-hour trips on Saturdays, and 654 on Sundays, according to a more recent report released Wednesday.

Home Depot would pay for several street projects to accommodate the additional traffic, said Francis Park, an attorney for the company. They include adding a left-turn signal at Alameda and Flower, adding a right- turn lane on eastbound Alameda and adding a left-turn lane on northbound Flower.

Gary Yamada, a development manager at Westwind Media, a business near where the Home Depot would be located, said he is concerned about day laborers congregating in the area.

Roger Baker, deputy city planner, said Home Depot is considering setting up a facility on its site for day laborers.

The Home Depot would be on a site used by the aerospace industry for several decades and most recently occupied by ITT Fluid Products Corp. That company still owns the land.

Water and soils tests conducted on the 11 acres of land on and surrounding the proposed Home Depot site revealed the presence of chromium, solvent and diesel contaminants, according to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Home Depot has agreed to clean up the ``shallow contamination'' at the site and ITT will clean up the ``deeper contamination,'' said Dixon Oriola, well investigations program unit chief with the board.

Burbank Community Development Director Sue Georgino said any negative effect that the Home Depot would have on the neighborhood is offset by the cleanup that is part of the project.

``That is the bottom line. This is an extremely dirty site that is being cleaned up,'' she said.

Home Depot would build a slurry wall underground that would keep contaminants out of the part of the lot that the store would be on. Contaminants will also be removed with vapor extraction, said David Bacharowski, assistant executive officer for groundwater remediation for the LARWQCB.

Thirty daily trips by diesel trucks are expected at the Home Depot once the store is opened, said Vasanthi Ramanathan, site development coordinator for Greenberg Farrow Architects, which is working with Home Depot on the project.

Campbell asked what the combined effect those trucks and the vapor extraction would have on air quality around the store. Environmental consultants for Home Depot said Thursday that they will examine that.

If the project is approved, construction could begin soon afterward and it would take about seven months to complete, Ramanathan said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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