HOMEOWNERS LOSE BID TO HALT TWO COMPLEXES.

Byline: JASON KANDEL Staff Writer

BURBANK - The Burbank Planning Board has denied an appeal by residents opposed to a 24-unit apartment complex, but recommended imposing conditions to alleviate traffic and construction impacts around the Hood Avenue site.

The board suggested putting up signs around the site directing neighbors to a hotline that would take their concerns so city staffers could come up with ways to alleviate traffic impacts on Hood, a short street near the Lakeside Golf Course.

During a meeting Monday night, ``the most common theme I heard from speakers was traffic,'' Planning Board member Mitchell Thomas said.

Ten residents spoke against the project. During the meeting, the board also shot down an appeal on a separate, two-story, 11-unit complex on Delaware Road.

``This is absolutely, positively massive. This is massive for this street,'' Burbank resident LaVerne Thomas said of the Hood project. ``New York City, here we come.''

Local resident Steven Baer was outraged about the proposed plan on Hood.

``If we thought that a very large, 24-unit apartment building constructed on four adjacent lots was good for our small residential street, we wouldn't be here,'' he said. ``This building is too big for our neighborhood.''

Daniel Fera, the project applicant, said he has proposed a tasteful complex with lots of shrubbery that will fit in nicely with the surrounding area. He promised to be a good neighbor. ``I understand that there's a lot of passion here today,'' he said of the appeals hearing. ``We're compassionate of that. We're very proud of the city of Burbank. And we definitely do care about the well-being of the community.''

The Hood complex includes studio and two-bedroom units over an underground garage with 55 parking stalls. It would include an exercise room, a backyard swimming pool and spa and a rooftop common area. The project would sit on the site of four former lots on 25,171 square feet in the 4100 block of Hood.

City officials approved the application for the project in August. In October, Burbank and Toluca Lake residents signed a petition raising concerns about the plan. They first made their appeals in February. Before the vote during Monday night's meeting, Planning Board member Amy Lawrence said she wanted to help make sure residents' concerns about traffic were addressed.

``To picture that development on that street is very, very difficult because it is so much bigger than the other developments on that street,'' she said. ``Having said that, something will be developed on that lot. So I think I would bend over backwards to address the problems.''

Residents have 15 days to appeal the Planning Board's decision to the City Council. If no objections are raised, city officials estimate the project could break ground within the next few months.

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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