Zoning Emerges as Top Issue in City Council Election

The proposed sweeping change in Glendale’s zoning laws has emerged as the most important campaign issue in Tuesday’s municipal election, separating candidates who appear to agree on most other major topics.

At the last Glendale City Council meeting before the April 2 election, Councilman John Day, one of two incumbents running for reelection, was consistently outvoted, 4 to 1, in his attempts to stop a citywide rezoning plan.

His stance provoked unusually harsh reactions from his council colleagues, including Ginger Bremberg, the other incumbent among six candidates competing for three council seats.

Day voted seven times on Tuesday against motions that involved rezoning. Zoning changes require four votes on the five-person council; Day said he would continue his efforts if reelected.

Mayor Carroll Parcher, who supports rezoning, is retiring from the council, opening the way for at least one newcomer and a possible swing vote.

Carl W. Raggio, president of the Board of Education and the person most other candidates consider to be in the lead to fill the third open seat, said he feels the council is moving too quickly to change zoning laws.

The other candidates--college professor Mark A. Doyle, teacher William Mulvihill and graphic artist Larry Lousen--also indicated that they might disagree with the council majority on rezoning.

A lack of other major issues in the campaign, coupled with election day occurring during the spring school semester break, may produce a turnout even lower than the 19% two years ago, some candidates say. Incumbents generally have a greater chance for reelection with a low turnout.

Day said the citywide process of bringing zoning into compliance with the 1977 general plan intrudes excessively into residents’ lives and should be dealt with only on an area-by-area basis when special issues arise.

“My position all along on this entire matter has been that this council is doing tremendous harm to the citizens of Glendale,” Day said.

Day conceded that he seconded the motion last year to begin the rezoning study, but said that he “was led down the primrose path” by the municipal planning staff and did not realize the legal consequences.

Other council members on Tuesday broke the usual congenial atmosphere at their meetings to criticize Day for what they said was his attempt to make political hay out of the disputed rezoning.

“We were not elected to make headlines. We were elected to make hard decisions for the City of Glendale,” Bremberg said. “I’m afraid some candidate has politicized this, not to the benefit of the community we love.”

She stressed that zoning proposals can be changed during the study period to accommodate citizens’ desires. “You are making a mistake if you think we are taking the document as the Gospel According to Saint Jamriska,” she said, referring humorously to city Planning Director Gerald J. Jamriska. “It’s not.”

Said Parcher: “It is highly unfortunate but perhaps inevitable that the issue has become politicized.”

Current zoning laws would allow the city’s population of nearly 150,000 to double. But the land-use part of the general plan would limit the population to 200,000 by the year 2010, so city planners have recommended that large areas of the city be downzoned.

No Immediate Changes

The Planning Commission and City Council are studying, in phases, proposed changes. Although the council has indicated its intent to adopt a number of proposed zone changes, nothing will be final until it moves on the enormous citywide zoning ordinance and map, which may not happen for several months.

Previously, Day had focused on a City Charter provision that requires a unanimous council vote on a zone change when 20% of the affected property owners object to the proposed change. Several of the proposals had provoked considerable protest from neighborhood residents.

Recently, Day asked City Atty. Frank Manzano whether the 20% rule applied to a particular area or the entire city. Manzano ruled last week that owners of 20% of all the property in Glendale, measured by street frontage, must file protests for unanimity to be required. City officials said it appears that the criteria has not been met.

It is uncertain how zoning will be affected by Parcher’s retirement. But one thing is certain--there will be at least one council newcomer.

Slowing Changes

Raggio, 56, an aerospace engineering manager who supports zoning changes, said the city may need to slow the process. He said some areas of the city, such as the Verdugo Woodlands in the northeast section, should be downzoned to lower the permitted density of development.

He also said the city should study ways to compensate developers whose property values are lowered by downzoning.

Raggio said he also is concerned about parking problems and traffic congestion in the downtown redevelopment area--an issue he said “has to be taken care of almost immediately.”

He said he supports the issuance of tax-exempt bonds for some projects, such as apartments for senior citizens and young marrieds and to entice new high-technology industry to the city.

He said the city also needs to resolve traffic congestion and hazardous conditions on Chevy Chase Drive.

Raggio, a resident of Glendale for 23 years, is manager of the design engineering services section at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and chairman of the Verdugo Private Industry Council, which develops federally funded job-training programs. He has served on the school board for 12 years.

More Study Suggested

Mark A. Doyle, 62, who will retire in June as a Glendale Community College sociology professor, agrees with Raggio on the zoning consistency issue. He said that, with modifications, zoning laws should be brought into compliance with the general plan, but that the issue “should be put on the back burner” for more study.

Doyle said he is opposed to the use of tax-exempt bonds for private projects but would consider such funds for development benefiting the handicapped or elderly.

He said he also favors development of a cultural center and other recreational facilities downtown. Doyle said he wants to “recapture a sense of community” by encouraging people-oriented facilities downtown.

Doyle, who has lived in Glendale almost 30 years, participates on the Glendale Council on Aging and the Glendale Coordinating Council and recruits volunteers to assist the handicapped.

Sees Need for Changes

William Mulvihill, 59, who teaches social studies at a Los Angeles high school, said he sees the need for zone changes but sympathizes with owners affected by downzoning. He, also, would ask for more time to consider ways to mitigate adverse consequences.

Mulvihill, twice an unsuccessful candidate for Community College Board, said he would work to bring a rail system to Glendale to relieve congestion on Brand Boulevard and to link the city with downtown Los Angeles and Burbank Airport.

Mulvihill is active in the American Legion and its Boys’ State program and the Glendale Veterans Council.

A different view of development is held by candidate Larry Lousen, 33. Lousen said he is opposed to new multifamily development in the city and favors more stringent downzoning than proposed by the city’s planning staff.

Lousen, a resident of the La Crescenta area, said development of apartment complexes in single-family neighborhoods has eroded the quality of life in the community.

Active in Sports

Lousen, who is active in YMCA and sports programs, said he would like the city to develop more sports fields. He said he studied architecture and urban planning and has a special sense for the future of downtown.

Bremberg, 59, said she is seeking a second term in office to maintain the fiscal stability of the city and its traditional services. She said resolution of traffic and parking problems as well as the orderly development of downtown are priorities in the city.

Bremberg said that, if reelected, she would not seek a third term. She is a member of the Federal Historic Preservation Council, treasurer of the Los Angeles Division of the League of California Cities and vice president of the California Elected Women Assn.

Day, 65, said he is seeking reelection because “my job isn’t finished yet.” He said he wants to continue his role in the downtown revitalization and to resolve traffic congestion problems.

Hillside Preservation

He is an advocate of the hillside preservation ordinance and helped obtain funds to acquire more than 1,000 acres for public land in the Verdugo Mountains. Day, a retired banker, is a director of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

Raggio has raised the most campaign funds, followed closely by Bremberg and Day, according to campaign spending reports filed with the city clerk on March 21.

Raggio reported that he raised more than $7,600 and had spent about $3,500. Bremberg reported raising almost $7,500 and spending more than $5,000. Day had almost $6,800 and spent $2,500. Doyle spent $3,200 but raised only $1,600.

Mulvihill and Lousen reported that they have spent $500 or less on their campaigns.

Several candidates estimated that they will spend more than $10,000 by Election Day. Final spending reports are not required until June.

Take Office April 8

Tuesday’s winners will take office on April 8, the same day council members elect a mayor from among themselves. The post is mainly ceremonial.

The race for city treasurer is expected to be one of the closest in the election. Banker Lynn McGinnis, 42, has waged a grass-roots precinct-walking campaign to wrest the job from Elizabeth Evans, 43, who was appointed to the position in the fall at the recommendation of retired Treasurer Pauline Lockhart.

Evans, who assisted Lockhart for two years, said she has “established a rapport with the banks with whom we deal,” and offers continuity in the successful management of the city’s funds. Evans said that the duties of her office have left her little time to campaign but that she is relying on voters “knowing who I am and what I know.”

McGinnis, as a corporate investment adviser for Security Pacific National Bank, said he has spent almost 200 hours walking precincts throughout the city since January and estimates that he has reached almost 10,000 voters.

He maintains that he is better qualified to understand the needs and limitations of the treasurer’s post during the current era of banking deregulation.

McGinnis reported campaign contributions of almost $3,200; Evans had raised $1,400.

City Clerk Unopposed

Unopposed for reelection is Glendale City Clerk Merle H. Hagemeyer, who has held the position since he was appointed in 1976. Hagemeyer also was not challenged in two previous elections.

Voters also will elect three members of the Glendale Unified School District. Incumbents Jane M. Whitaker and June F. Sweetnam are seeking reelection. Also on the ballot are attorney Charles E. Whitesell and Richard N. Matthews, a corporate executive.

Three incumbents are unopposed for reelection to the Glendale Community College District. They are Ted W. Tiffany, Kenneth N. Sweetnam and Phillip C. Kazanjian.

Several candidates in the City Council race said they plan to spend the last few days of the campaign urging voters to go to the polls. Several political observers noted that interest in this year’s election appears to have waned even from previous municipal elections.

Poor Turnout Decried

Incumbents Day and Bremberg said they were invited to fewer neighborhood coffees than in previous campaigns. Bremberg said, “I deplore the rate of turnout of local elections, not only in Glendale but other cities. The percentage of turnout is going down so fast, it really bothers me.”

Voters can expect to be barraged by political messages during the next five days. Candidates and their supporters are stumping door-to-door, by mail, by telephone, at shopping centers and at street corners.