Homeowners Win 1, Lose 1 in Burger Restaurant Fight : Zoning: L.A. board approves drive-through proposal for Encino, while rejecting a plan for Studio City eatery. Residents say the projects would snarl traffic.

Homeowners won one burger battle Tuesday when the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals voted against a drive-through proposed by a Studio City McDonald’s that now takes orders from customers parked behind the restaurant in a service dubbed “McCurb.”

But residents lost a similar decision when the board approved permits necessary for a drive-through at a Burger King proposed for Encino.

“It was the case of a good site plan versus a bad site plan,” board chairwoman Katherine Diamond said.

Board members voted 3 to 1 to approve the conditional-use permits needed to operate a drive-through Burger King on a vacant lot at Gloria Avenue and Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

Cimms Inc., which runs more than 20 Burger King franchises, plans to build a 3,164-square-foot structure on a 27,000-square-foot lot that abuts a residential neighborhood.

Homeowners said they believed the Burger King would snarl traffic as well as posing safety hazards to people walking through the neighborhood. “We have to deal with the issues of noise, traffic, light and glare,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino.

But Burger King representatives countered the residents’ points and said that the project will actually ease traffic because people in nearby office buildings can eat at Burger King rather than driving to restaurants farther away.

“We feel our proposal to build a family restaurant with economical food, to never serve alcohol and to employ 60 people, is the best use of the site,” said Brian Weinstock, a project spokesman.

The majority of the board agreed that the restaurant was a low-intensity use appropriate for the area, and upheld a zoning administrator’s December decision to grant the permits. Homeowners who had appealed that decision to the board said they will now appeal the conditional-use permits to the City Council.

Silver said they also will fight the drive-through next week at a Planning Commission meeting called to decide whether it conforms to a local ordinance that designates the area for pedestrian uses.

The battle also continues over a proposal by a McDonald’s Restaurant on Ventura Boulevard to add a drive-through to the 20-year-old establishment in Studio City.

Representatives for the restaurant say the drive-through would increase business by 15%. They argued that the drive-through would ease congestion in the parking lot that the restaurant shares with several other businesses.

But residents, a representative for a Los Angeles city councilman and a Los Angeles police officer complained that the drive-through exit onto Ventura Boulevard would be dangerous. They also said traffic problems could worsen in the heavily traveled area.

“This is not an appropriate place to create a drive-through,” said Tom Henry, planning deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs.

The zoning board agreed, unanimously denying the restaurant’s request for the conditional-use permit and an accompanying zone variance. McDonald’s representatives said that the corporation would appeal the decision to the City Council.