By Ted AYALA

Residents of the city of Glendale may have to allow themselves extra time for their commutes through Glendale along Verdugo Road beginning this summer. At Tuesday’s Glendale City Council meeting, a project was approved to refurbish Verdugo Road from Colorado Boulevard to Glendale Avenue. The project, which will cost the city over $2 million, will include a repaving of the selected stretch of Verdugo Road, the planting of 62 new trees along the street, reconstruction of street curbs and improvements to the street’s fiber-optic infrastructure.

Under questioning from Councilman Rafi Manoukian, Director of Public Works Steve Zurn acknowledged that the Verdugo project may have an adverse effect on traffic in the area.

“We will, as we always do, try to keep traffic moving in both directions,” said Zurn. “But at times, there will be an impact. We may be [down] to one lane at certain times. It’s difficult to do these kinds of projects without that sort of impact. But construction being as it is, we’ll be avoiding the evening rush.”

The refurbishing project will begin in August and continue through the end of December.

After weeks of discussion and sometimes heated argument, the city council finally adopted new “green” or environmentally conscious amendments to the city’s building codes.

Councilman Ara Najarian, who has been a firm opponent of the green codes, spoke at length of the misgivings he feels regarding the amendments and what he perceived as overstepping the boundaries of state law.

“We do have [environmental] findings put forth by the City Attorney [supporting the adoption of these amendments and their legality],” said the councilman. “But I find these to be merely boilerplate, rote recitations of general [environmental] conditions, not to conditions specific to Glendale.”

The motion to approve the amendments was split 3-1 with Councilman Najarian being the sole dissenter. Councilman Frank Quintero was absent.

  JUNE 09, News, ROAD REPAIRS, Ted Ayala