By Julie BUTCHER

At the beginning of Tuesday night’s Glendale City Council meeting, city staff in the Economic Development Dept. was recognized for winning the League of California Cities’ Helen Putnam Award for “excellence in community services,” based on its work building an ecosystem for technological start-ups.
During Council comments, Councilmember Paula Devine announced that the city has unveiled a virtual COVID-19 memorial https://tinyurl.com/y6gv5m8g recognizing those lost to the virus, encouraging the sharing of stories and photos.
Next the Council unanimously voted to name the Glendale Police Dept. community room to honor the former mayor and councilmember Richard “Rick” Reyes.
“I’m glad we were able to do this on the heels of Hispanic Heritage Month,” Councilmember Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian said, explaining the effort “to celebrate diversity and inclusivity in our community. Future generations of Latino community members and all Glendale residents will be able to reflect on Mayor Reyes’ contributions to the city.”
On the topic of the last remaining COVID-19-specific city orders, the Council deliberated and then opted to allow the freeze on rent increases to expire.
Existing state legislation, AB 1482, limits allowable rent increases, the city attorney and mayor clarified as part of the discussion, further clarifying that rent control is limited to covering only structures built after Feb. 1, 1995 (commonly known as “Costa-Hawkins”) but which could be changed by state Proposition 21, on the ballot on Nov. 3.
According to Councilmember Dan Brotman, “Glendale rents are down 7.5% – it may be unnecessary to keep this at this time.”
“Rents aren’t going up. They’re going down,” Councilmember Ara Najarian added.
Councilmember Paula Devine shared that the landlords she has heard from “want renters to stay.”
Additionally, the Council opted to allow protections against residential evictions to align with protections adopted statewide.
Finally, the Council heard a lengthy and complicated appeal regarding a proposed three-story, 3,275 square foot single-family home on 81,296 square feet at 910 Laird Drive in the Rancho San Rafael neighborhood. The city’s design review board denied initial plans for the property, which also fronts Chevy Chase, on Aug. 11, 2016 and sent it back with conditions. Neighbors have raised issues regarding privacy, the scale of the home proposed to be built, and the design and construction of two driveways in addition to reporting illegal grading already completed and concerns regarding drainage, potential flooding and possible remedies. Since then, changes and conditions have been required in 2017, 2018, and again in January 2019.
“It’s a small building – every engineer knows that you can fix this,” Mayor Vrej Agajanian objected to the denial of the appeal. “In the past, we’ve stopped people from building and have been forced by the courts to let them build what they wanted.”
Ultimately the Council agreed to delay a decision until Nov. 17 to allow updated proposals to address outstanding issues, most notably drainage.
“You’ve addressed many of the issues – trees for privacy, reducing the size of the house,” Devine said before urging the homeowner to work out the remaining concerns.