About Planning

The City of Burbank Planning Division is part of the Community Development Department. Planning Division employees act as support staff and make recommendations about specific projects and general planning matters to the City Council, Planning Board, and other Boards, Commissions, and Committees. Planners are responsible for creating goals and policies for future development in the City and ensuring that all proposed development complies with those goals. The functions of the Planning Division are generally divided into three categories: Current Planning, Advance Planning, and Transportation Planning.

Current Planning
Current Planning staff are responsible for the processing of development applications including planned developments, variances, conditional use permits, and subdivisions. Current Planning staff also provide public assistance for planning and zoning issues by phone and at the public counter.

Current Planning guides the City's development by assuring compliance of all projects with the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Planners oversee development projects of widely varying scales across the City while seeking to strike a healthy balance between the needs of residents and businesses to maintain the City's character and sustainability.  Current Planners perform environmental review for every project to analyze any potential environmental impacts, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

Advance Planning
Advance Planning staff update the General Plan, amend the Zoning Ordinance, conduct research, and provide public assistance with demographic data and other statistics. Advance Planning staff are responsible for the preparation and processing of Specific Plans and other planning documents, General Plan Amendments, Zone Map Amendments, and Zone Text Amendments.

Advance Planning monitors the current and future development of the City through the updating of the General Plan. Advance planners work to diversify the City through implementation of area plans such as those for the Media District, Burbank Center downtown area, and Magnolia Park.

Transportation Planning
Transportation Planning implements transportation related capital improvement projects and other projects designed to meet the City's long term transportation needs. Transportation Planning staff work closely with local and state agencies in securing funding for local projects and participate in the planning of transportation projects of regional significance.

Although Transportation Planning has been a separate division within the Community Development Department for several years, the increasing importance of linking all planning projects and actions to their transportation impacts has led to Transportation Planning again being integrated into the Planning Division. Please visit the Transportation Planning web site for further information.