After weeks of pleas from the residents near the new Raising Cane’s at Orchard and Olive, the Burbank City Council on Tuesday came up with some temporary fixes to try and help.
When the fast food chicken restaurant first opened in June, lines were blocks long, with Raising Canes paying Burbank police to manage the traffic. However, after a few weeks and as the lines decreased somewhat, a private security firm was brought in to manage the traffic problems.
While the lines are not what they once were, cars are still backed up down Olive, waiting to get into the drive-thru. When too many cars are backed up, the security guards wave cars away, who then drive down the adjoining residential streets as they circle to try once again to get in line.
Neighbors in the area complained of parking on their streets and the trash being left by customers that they had to clean up then.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Council Members voted 4-0 (Bob Frutos was absent) to have the City place speed humps on South Reese Place, close Orchard Drive to southbound traffic and set up a Preferential Parking District on 100-200 Blocks of South Reese Place and South Orchard Drive.
All of these measures will go into effect soon, and after they are completed, the results of the actions will come back to the Council in 60 days to see how they are working and if anything else needs to be done. It was reported that the work would cost approximately $30,000, and Raising Cane’s would pick up the tab.
By establishing preferential parking on Reese and Orchard, residents will now be forced to buy a $15 yearly parking pass if they wish to park their cars on the street and will have to pay a $1 fee for guests who may also wish to park on either of the two streets.
City Staff estimated the overall cost of about $8,000 for all the residents once they have all participated. Staff says that a $15 pass is only about 20% of the actual cost of the pass, with the City already picking up the difference for residents in Burbank.
When Council Members asked if Raising Cane’s would pay the resident’s cost of the parking passes, Staff said they would only pay the $30,000 cost of the traffic mitigation. The Council did ask staff to go back and request the restaurant to pay the resident’s costs, but as of now, residents are on the hook for the parking passes.
There is still also a lawsuit making its way through the system brought by residents against the opening of Raising Cane’s at the present location with a drive-thru. It is not expected to make it to trial until 2023.
