Council Will Take Up Alcohol, Fence Issues

Banning alcohol sales at gas stations and legalizing front-yard fences are among issues to be decided by Glendale City Council this spring after it reorganizes on Tuesday.

Jerold Milner said he will step down Tuesday as mayor, a largely ceremonial position he has held for a year. The mayor is elected by a majority of the five-member council and there is no formal rotation system.

A new chairman of the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, which is composed of the five council members, also is to be named to succeed Councilman Larry Zarian.

Public hearings have been scheduled on proposals to ban liquor sales at gas stations and to permit walls and fences to be built in front yards.

Gas and Alcohol Issue

City officials said parent-teacher groups have asked that the sale of alcohol be prohibited at all locations that sell gasoline, such as stations with mini-markets, markets that have added gas pumps and car washes.

Glendale could join more than 40 other cities in Southern California that already have imposed such bans, saying alcohol and gasoline don’t mix. City Zoning Administrator John McKenna said about 10% of the 70 service stations in the city sell alcohol but that more may replace service bays with mini-markets.

Public hearings on liquor sales will be held April 14 before the city Planning Commission and April 22 before the City Council.

Public hearings will be held in May to review a 64-year-old city law that prohibits building fences and walls on front-yard property lines. The law is believed to be the most stringent in the county, far exceeding controls imposed in other communities such as Beverly Hills, San Marino and Pasadena.

McKenna, of the zoning department, said there are widespread violations of the fence regulations throughout the city and that many illegal walls have existed for decades. He said homeowners are frequently angered when they are ordered to remove a wall from their front yard or prohibited from building one. Hearings are scheduled May 6 before the Planning Commission and May 27 before City Council.