This location is zoned MPC-2, the Magnolia Park Limited Business Zone (Burbank Municipal Code…read moresection
10-1-2601). Under the City's own zoning table (BMC section 10-1-502), an "automobile repair garage" in this
zone requires a conditional use permit. The City's online property records, which go back to 2006, show no
conditional use permit and no zoning clearance ever issued for this address. The building's history goes back
further: the earliest permit on file, dated February 4, 1947, describes the use as "COM. - LIGHT MACHINE WORK
& SHOW ROOM," not automobile repair. I don't see how a use that was never actually permitted should now be
allowed to continue, or be granted an exception, without the City first making a written finding that
automobile repair is lawful on this specific lot.
The lot itself is small for this use: about 25 feet wide and 130 feet deep (3,250 square feet), with its rear
line touching single-family (R-1) homes and no alley in between. The Los Angeles County Fire Department's
Health Hazardous Materials Division (the local CUPA -- Certified Unified Program Agency) recorded violations
here in May 2026, including two 55-gallon drums of used oil in the back lot without a hazardous waste label,
and oil filters accumulated without a closed, labeled container. To the shop's credit, the County's own
records show those violations were corrected and the site returned to compliance by July 8, 2026. Still, one
gallon of used oil can foul a million gallons of drinking water, and I don't know where this lot's runoff
goes. Burbank's own code (BMC section 8-1-1003(F)) bans discharging wash water from vehicle repair areas into
the storm drain system without a permit, because storm drains carry runoff, untreated, straight to local
waterways.
I believe, based on all of this, that this location was never properly zoned for an auto shop in the first
place, and that if the owner applies for a conditional use permit or any other exception to keep operating
here, the City should not grant it. I'm not asking for anyone to be fined or prosecuted. I just don't think a
business with an eight-year gap in its state registration, on a lot this size, backing directly onto people's
homes, should get an exception to a zoning law it was never in compliance with.
I had a starter replaced here. I later learned, from the California Department of Consumer Affairs' own
license search, that this shop's registration (No. 250737) had expired back on May 31, 2018 and was marked
cancelled -- and that a new registration (No. 317791) was not issued until September 18, 2026. That is a gap
of more than eight years with no valid Automotive Repair Dealer registration on file, while the shop kept
working on cars. Under California Business and Professions Code section 9884.6(a), it is unlawful for anyone
to act as an automotive repair dealer without a currently valid registration. I filed a complaint with the
Bureau of Automotive Repair over the work done on my car, and I received a refund. I got an invoice, but not
the itemized invoice the law requires (Business and Professions Code section 9884.8: the invoice must list
parts and labor separately, state whether any part is new, used, rebuilt, or reconditioned, and give the
subtotals and tax).
Sources: California DCA license search (Bureau of Automotive Repair registrations); Burbank Municipal Code
sections 10-1-502 and 10-1-2601; City of Burbank property/permit records; CalEPA Regulated Site Portal /
LA County Fire Department Health Hazardous Materials Division inspection records; Business and Professions
Code sections 9884.6(a) and 9884.8.
