By Brian CHERNICK

Glendale City Council voted on Tuesday to provide an additional 12 months to the development company responsible for revitalizing the Rockhaven Sanitarium in northern Glendale in order for it to complete its Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with the city.

Gangi Development’s need for the extension comes after lenders backed away from funding the project due to the City’s expressed interest in maintaining ownership of the property.

Matthew Gangi, vice president of Gangi Development, initially requested a six-month extension to complete the ENA grant funding for the construction before the July 31 deadline for completion was reached. But due to the estimated time it will take to secure the grants, the city council staff recommended councilmembers provide Gangi Development 12 months to fulfill its due diligence.

“It certainly is not a straight-forward type of project,” Gangi Development CEO Salvatore Gangi said. “We are exploring grant funding, which does take additional timing.”

The development group has already completed an array of assessments during the first six months of work, including the surveying of each building individually, something Gangi said had never been done before.

Gangi Development was originally awarded the bid by city council in November after eight years of delays, deliberation and proposals.

The city council also voted to accept $467,878 in grant funding from the United States Dept. of Homeland Security for Urban Area Security Initiatives. Part of that money will be allocated for Glendale Police Dept. to enter an agreement with Lehr Auto Electronics to purchase $100,000 worth of automated license recognition systems.

The license plate scanners would be affixed to the front of police vehicles and would automate the input of license plate information to check against stolen vehicle databases.

According to councilmember Ara Najarian, and confirmed by deputy of police Carl Povilaitis, the scanners would collect license plate information and the location of the scan to be placed in a database so that, in case of a license plate number being reported by a resident, the police department can investigate if the car had picked up information related to that particular vehicle.

“It’s very effective in that regard,” Najarian said. “A little bit sneaky, but you would have to do less detective work, I guess.”

Povilaitis stated that this system would also allow the department to work more closely with the Glendale Galleria to provide better city safety.

“We have been working with the Glendale Galleria, which has some foresight here because they are installing their own system in their parking places,” Povilaitis said. “This will allow us to have software and enter an agreement with Glendale Galleria so that we can query their system.

“This is one of those opportunities where working with one of our key business partners in the downtown area will allow us to be more effective with the resources we have in maintaining the community safety.”

  Brian CHERNICK