Agency OKs Study of Redevelopment Zone : Blight: Officials calm residents’ fears with assurances that their neighborhoods will be excluded from the project boundaries.

Vowing not to encroach on residential neighborhoods, the Glendale Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday took the first step toward creating a redevelopment zone in the industrial area along San Fernando Road.

Agency members unanimously authorized a $135,000 feasibility study to determine the purpose, scope and type of development that could be included in a proposed redevelopment zone. No formal action will be taken on formation of a zone until the preliminary study is completed late this summer, officials said.

Hundreds of residents living along the western border of the city reacted angrily when they learned about the city’s plans earlier this year. They said the proposal severely affected the value of their homes, even though the city does not expect to determine boundaries of a redevelopment project for more than a year.

Most of the fears were quieted this week when agency officials said residential neighborhoods will be excluded from the proposed project.

One neighborhood in particular, where residents are surrounded by industry and who felt the most threatened, was specifically excluded. The five-block enclave of 88 homes--bounded by Truitt Street, Paula Avenue, Hazel Street and the Golden State Freeway--is hidden in a tiny pocket of the Grand Central industrial area amid factories, warehouses and businesses. Residents there have fought off repeated threats of encroachment by industry.

Officials also have excluded residential areas west of the Golden State Freeway, although all property owners are being urged to participate in the project study. Redevelopment Director Jeanne Armstrong said the city plans “a comprehensive outreach program” of neighborhood meetings, community meetings and workshops to gain widespread response to the study.

City officials have long complained that the industrial area is severely blighted and in need of street and sidewalk improvements and new water mains. They also hope to develop the area as a transportation corridor from the old Southern Pacific Transportation Co. train station at the south end, which the city owns, to a proposed second transit center in the Grand Central industrial area.

Initial plans call for the train station, which the city has renamed the Glendale Transportation Center, to serve as the hub of train, light rail, trolley and shuttle bus services and as a park-and-ride facility. A second station in the Grand Central area could be used to shuttle workers to factories and offices, thus reducing traffic in the proposed redevelopment zone, Armstrong said.

“I like that idea,” said Bill King, 77, when he learned of the proposed shuttle service. King, who built his Riverside Rancho home 37 years ago, said comments by officials soothed his anger. “We were feeling like the lost battalion for a while.”