Burbank Signals New Terminal Approval Is Likely

BURBANK — Bringing a long-running feud closer to resolution, city officials said Wednesday that a compromise plan for a new Burbank Airport terminal “is basically consistent with long-standing city policy.”

Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority officials--facing a Monday deadline to pay $30 million toward the terminal site to Lockheed Martin--have been seeking assurances from the city that the proposal will pass muster.

In a letter to Airport Authority Acting Director Dios Marrero on Wednesday, Burbank City Manager Robert R. “Bud” Ovrom said city officials cannot give formal approval to the new terminal until public hearings are completed and the project is approved by the City Council.

But Ovrom went on to say that the scaled-down, 14-gate terminal addresses key concerns of city officials. “That knowledge should give the authority the assurances it needs to make payments to Lockheed next Monday,” Ovrom wrote.

Marrero and Joyce Streator, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, were traveling and could not be reached for comment.

Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill said Ovrom’s letter “will get immediate consideration.” He said the authority will consider approving the $30-million payment to Lockheed Martin at its meeting Monday.

The Airport Authority has already spent $37 million for Lockheed Martin’s 130-acre site east of the main runway and must pay a $30-million installment by Monday or risk forfeiture. The total price for the site is $86 million.

In an interview, Ovrom said the letter is designed to reassure airport officials that the revised terminal plans are likely to win approval.

“They’ve said, “We need assurances we can buy the land and build a replacement terminal,’ ” Ovrom said. “That’s what we’re doing here.”

But Ovrom also noted that ultimate approval of the terminal will likely be contingent upon the Airport Authority imposing additional restrictions designed to limit noise.

Those conditions would include agreeing to shut down the terminal between 10:45 p.m. and 6:15 a.m. In addition, Ovrom said further expansion of the terminal--to 16 gates in 2009 and to 19 gates in 2019--would be linked to federal approval of a mandatory curfew on flights between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The Airport Authority made a substantially similar proposal Friday.

It offered to shutter the terminal between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, the Airport Authority wants the ability to expand to 16 gates in 2009 even without a curfew.

As part of that proposal, the authority also pledged to reduce the terminal building and an adjoining baggage facility from 420,000 square feet to 330,000. It could expand to no more than 430,000 square feet by 2019.

Airport noise critics say they will fight the plan, even while conceding that the city and the Airport Authority appear closer than ever to resolving the issue.

“This is pretty close to being a done deal because the city is working as hard as it can to make sure that the airport gets what it wants,” said former councilman Ted McConkey, a longtime airport critic. “The public hearings are going to be a sham. Everything will be predetermined.”

Airlines are also expected to oppose linking the terminal expansion to an overnight flight curfew.

“We are willing to abide by the outcome of any solution made through existing federal law,” said Neil Bennett, spokesman for the Air Transport Assn. “But any unilateral imposition of a nighttime curfew would be unacceptable.”

QUIET, PLEASE: Leaders recommend noisy jets be phased out at Van Nuys Airport. B6