Public Works Department

Engineering/Environmental Services

Water Reclamation and Sewer Section

THE GLENDALE – BURBANK INTERCEPTOR SEWER INFORMATION PAGE

RECENT NEWS!

The County of Los Angeles Superior Court has decided that the City of Los Angeles did not properly identify and analyze all of the environmental impacts of the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer (GBIS).  The court determined there was a lack of analysis in regards to settlement impacts, traffic impacts, traffic mitigation, construction noise and cumulative impacts. There, the court ordered Los Angeles to suspend the GBIS project pending adequate environmental review.  The first step of decertification was taken by the Los Angeles Public Works Board on December 12, 2007.

Final Order by Los Angeles Superior Court

Los Angeles Public Works Board Agenda for December 12, 2007

The final decertification of the Environmental Impact Report by the City of Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to occur on December 19, 2007.  The required additional environmental analysis will occur over the next several months. However, the City of Burbank does not know whether Los Angeles will provide an opportunity for public review and comment on these documents.

Background
On November 30, 2005 the City of Los Angeles released a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to inform the public and decision makers (Los Angeles City Council) of the environmental effects of the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP). The IRP is an integrated wastewater facilities plan that describes the existing wastewater, recycled water, and runoff systems in the City of Los Angeles, identifies system inadequacies based on the needs projected for the year 2020, and provides recommended alternatives to address the future needs of the systems. The IRP would improve and upgrade the City’s wastewater and recycled water systems, and runoff management programs through the year 2020.

One of the projects discussed in the Draft EIR is a sewer tunnel project that is proposed to extend from the Los Angeles Zoo to Toluca Lake. The construction of this sewer tunnel project, known as the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer (GBIS), could have the most construction-related impacts to Burbank of any project identified in the IRP. GBIS is a part of each alternative presented in the IRP.

On November 14, 2006, the Los Angeles City Council has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Los Angeles Integrated Resources Plan (IRP).  The Final EIR recommends an alignment of the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer (GBIS) which runs under Forest Lawn Drive, north under Pass Avenue, and west under Riverside Drive .  It does not include any tunnel shaft sites in the City of Burbank or directly adjacent to the City property (i.e. Pollywog).   The Final EIR also incorporates voluntary measures into the design of the recommended GBIS alignment including the elimination of maintenance holes within the City of Burbank and vibration and noise controls.

Below are a number of documents that are available online.

• The Petition for Writ of Mandate for Noncompliance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
  Petition for a Writ of Mandate
• The Final EIR
  http://www.lacity.org/san/irp/index.htm
• The Draft EIR:
  http://www.lacity-irp.org/DraftEIR.pdf   
• List of comment letters received by the City of Los Angeles:
  http://www.lacity-irp.org/documents/draft-eir-comments.pdf
• Index of GBIS related pages in the Draft EIR:
  Index of IRP-GBIS Pages of Interest
• Draft EIR Approval Process Flow Chart:  
  Draft EIR Flow Chart
• Map of the Draft EIR GBIS Alignments and Hybrid Alignment:
  GBIS Maps
• Los Angeles Report on Alternative GBIS Alignments:
  Draft Joint Report to City Council Motion 06-0234
• Letter from Los Angeles City Council Member Tom LaBonge:
  Tom LaBonge May 2006 Letter to City of Burbank
• Letter from City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation:
   June 2006 Letter Regarding Construction Mitigation

The City of Burbank has sent a number of comment letters to the City of Los Angeles regarding this project. Those letters can be viewed by clicking on the links below:

Los Angeles Draft Recommendations

The City of Los Angeles has released their draft recommendations for the Integrated Resources Plan IRP, including the Glendale-Burbank Interceptor Sewer alignment.  The draft recommendations are available at the City of Los Angeles IRP website.