Lack of Parking Blocks Proposal : Burbank Train Stop Scuttled

A proposal for a Burbank stop along the route of a new commuter train has been scuttled for lack of parking near the tracks.

Lockheed Aircraft Corp. officials held the key to the plan--a parking lot adjacent to the tracks where commuters could leave their cars. The state Department of Transportation has said it will approve a Burbank stop only if commuter parking is available nearby.

But Lockheed officials declined to make their 70-space lot available. “We have extremely tight parking as it is,” Lockheed spokesman Ross Hopkins said.

Burbank officials said they know of no alternative sites that are as convenient for commuters.

City officials are eager to have the train, which began commuter service in June, stop in the city because they think it would help local businesses and commuters.

Adjacent to Platform

City officials favored the Lockheed lot because it was adjacent to a railroad platform built years ago when trains stopped in Burbank regularly. The platform is between Empire Avenue and Vanowen Street west of Hollywood Way near the entrance to Lockheed.

Without a Burbank stop, commuters have been advised to use the alternative stops about five miles away in Panorama City and Glendale.

Steve Somers, Burbank acting transportation systems manager, said he did not regard Lockheed’s decision as “a flat-out no. We’re still hopeful we can work something out. From a cost standpoint, it’s our No. 1 priority to have that parking next to the station.”

Somers said Lockheed’s refusal may have been based, in part, on company unhappiness that the train schedule did not help its employees.

The train would stop in Burbank at 6:52 a.m. and 8:07 a.m., but the return trip would not reach the Burbank station until 4:52 p.m. and 6:07 p.m. “That means that Lockheed folks who had 7 a.m. shifts and got off at 3:30 p.m. would have to wait around,” Somers said.

He said he would see if the schedule could be changed to suit Lockheed employees. “If Lockheed saw that a stop would be of more benefit to them, maybe they would provide more parking,” he said.

Hopkins said that the schedule “is not of great benefit to Lockheed, but that is a separate issue. It comes down to, there are strictly no spaces.”

Amtrak now runs two round trips between Santa Barbara and San Diego. Stops include Los Angeles, Glendale, Panorama City, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo and Oxnard.

Lockheed leases the parking lot from Southern Pacific Railroad Co. Lockheed spokesman Hopkins said one alternative for the city is to park cars west of the station on other property Southern Pacific leases to Lockheed.

Burbank officials are skeptical about that suggestion because it would mean ferrying commuters as much as a half-mile from their cars to the railroad platform, making the train a less convenient alternative.

Hopkins also said Burbank could build a parking structure on the Lockheed lot as long as parking was provided for Lockheed employees.

A recently completed study by the Southern California Assn. of Governments recommended building a station at the site and providing 200 parking spaces, Somers said.