Airport to fund ballot measure for replacement terminal
To further its efforts to construct a new 14-gate replacement terminal, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority agreed this week to reimburse the city of Burbank for any costs related to calling a Measure B election for the project.
Commissioners voted 8-0 during a meeting Monday to pay back an estimated cost of about $193,200 to Burbank for calling the special election to ask the city’s residents if they want a replacement terminal. Pasadena Commissioner Steve Madison was absent.
Should the city’s actual cost for the election be more than the estimate, authority members agreed to pay the additional amount.
“This is a fair offer that we’re making to pick this up,” Burbank Commissioner Don Brown said as he moved the item forward.
Board Vice President Terry Tornek said both the authority and the city have evolved to a point where they can work with one another on the replacement terminal project, noting that the relationship between the two agencies was more contentious in the past.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for both the city and the airport to move ahead and achieve something that I think will benefit both parties dramatically,” he said.
For decades, the authority has been looking to replace its current 232,000-square-foot, 14-gate terminal, which was built in the 1930s, with a more modern facility that meets current Federal Aviation Administration and seismic standards.
The authority is leaning heavily toward building a 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate replacement terminal at the northeast section of the airfield known as the B-6 parcel. However, the authority needs approval by voters, as required by Measure B, so the measure will be on the Nov. 8 ballot. The city holds an easement on the property.
Should the ballot measure fail in the Nov. 8 election, the authority is ready to build a 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate terminal on the southwest quadrant of the airfield. Airport officials have stated that they can build at that site without voter approval because the property is owned by the authority.
