GLENDALE : N.Y. Firm to Unveil Redevelopment Plan

A New York planning firm that devised a much-touted strategic plan for reinventing downtown Glendale is slated later this month to unveil its initial ideas for the future of the city’s fledgling San Fernando Road redevelopment area, city officials said Friday.

Cooper, Robertson & Partners is working on a master plan to help turn around the corridor along Glendale’s southern border between Burbank and Los Angeles--an area marked by a hodgepodge of industrial companies, auto repair shops, ethnic markets, salvage yards and various other businesses. The firm is scheduled to give the City Council a progress report June 20 on its analysis of the area, which is about half completed, officials said.

The status report may provide clues to what lies in store for the blighted project area, which has shown virtually no signs of redevelopment since it was designated a redevelopment area by the City Council in December, 1992. But Angela Moreno, a project manager with the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, said no recommendations on projects or other changes will be made until after the master plan, which is expected to be finished in the fall, is adopted.

Unlike the city’s downtown strategic plan, which identified areas best suited to certain types of development but left much leeway for the city and property owners to improvise, the San Fernando Road plan will set down specific areas for specific types of projects, Moreno said.

The plan is also expected to include information on the cost of land and design guidelines for giving rebuilt areas a new identity.