Vrej Agajanian

No Response.

Elen Asatryan

I believe our permitting department structure doesn’t work and needs a complete overhaul. We have residents waiting for years for simple approvals and being asked to pay excessive fees the average family cannot afford. I would like to explore some models used by other cities where there are guidelines for each neighborhood, and the job of the commission is to ensure that checklist is met.

Dan Brotman

I believe the Design Guidelines are more than just guidelines. They are the rulebook that developers and property owners need to adhere to—strictly. My appointees to the DRB, coupled with my votes* on Council, demonstrate the importance I place on respecting Design Guidelines. If city staff does not create a culture of adherence to the Design Guidelines, the result would be a community in the future with no apparent direction or consistency.

* I have voted on the following projects in my 2 years on Council:

• Indigo Stage II

• 540 N. Central

• 1248 Corona Dr.

• 1226 Vista Court

• 910 Laird Dr.

• 2941-43 Honolulu

• Onni Hotel Stage I

Anita Quinonez Gabrielian

Design Guidelines mean a vision, a set of recommendations and best case examples that are used and applied to developments, additions or remodels. I believe that they should not be too specific as to stifle creativity. Bottom line, their objective is to maintain compatibility with the existing character of the neighborhood or district.

I believe that compliance with a set of guidelines is up to the staff, the Design Review Board and ultimately the City Council members. The City Council is responsible for setting the tone.

Jordan Henry

The DRB has been given the authority to determine many factors in the Design Guidelines, such as floor area ratios, setbacks, and wall/fence restrictions. I largely support and trust the DRB to work with the community, HOAs, and planning commissioners. Their guidelines will ensure the character of a neighborhood is preserved for years to come. On council, I will work hard to enforce the guidelines in order to maintain Glendale’s most cherished neighborhoods. Again, enforcement is necessary, and I will instruct the city attorney to do everything in his/her power to counter over-development of our city.

Karen Kwak

The trend does seem to be toward larger houses, especially during the pandemic when most people were confined to their homes. Homeowners traded up to bigger houses, and this has been driving the rapid increase in the price of single-family houses in the last two years (the national numbers show increases of 26% in 2020 and 15% in 2021, I believe). I can’t say that I care for this trend or that it affects me directly, as a renter, except that it drives homeownership even further beyond the reach of most renters. Although I do not like “mansionization” at all, I do enjoy seeing innovative architecture that makes use of the latest developments in design and construction materials, and would like to see a balance between welcoming innovation and achieving compatibility with existing neighborhoods.

Ara Najarian

There is no neighborhood in Glendale that is entirely homogenous. Diversity of styles of homes in a neighborhood are a good thing. I do not approve of large diversity in house size unless special circumstances exist. One of the special circumstances is size of lot. If a lot is larger than neighborhood lots then a larger home should be permitted.

Isabel Valencia-Tevanyan

The Design Guidelines need to be respected and followed at all times, in order to reduce the “mansionization” of Glendale homes and maintain synergy in the neighborhoods. In order to ensure compatibility, we would need to review the guidelines on occasion and see if updates need to be made with the help of the community through survey participation or even place such issues in the ballot box.