Ignores East Valley : Burbank Noise Report Angers 6 Councilmen

Six members of the Los Angeles City Council have condemned a federal study at Burbank Airport, saying it will do nothing to alleviate noise problems in San Fernando Valley neighborhoods.

In a letter this week to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, the city officials asked that the three-year study be rewritten. The letter was written by Councilman Joel Wachs and was also signed by Zev Yaroslavsky, Ernani Bernardi, Marvin Braude, Michael Woo and John Ferraro.

The officials had hoped that the study would recommend that takeoff patterns be changed to lessen noise over the East Valley. The councilmen want to send more flights over Glendale and Pasadena.

Bad Faith Charged

“This document flies in the face of the spirit and intent of the Part 150 Study, which is to make airports and their surrounding communities more compatible,” Wachs wrote, referring to the government’s term for the study.

In an interview Friday, Wachs called the report grossly inadequate and said the airport authority conducted the study in bad faith. The FAA has paid for the study--about $450,000 to date--while the airport authority has relied on two committees with 68 members and a consulting firm to help draw up the report.

“They continue to do everything they can to make the people in Los Angeles bear all the burden of the airport even though Burbank, Pasadena and Glendale receive a benefit from the airport,” Wachs said.

The report recommends that the airport pay for soundproofing for homes in the noisiest neighborhoods or reimburse sellers the money they lose because of noise.

Victor Gill, airport spokesman, dismissed the councilmen’s concerns as sour grapes and called their letter “patently political.”

“The city of Los Angeles didn’t get what it wants, so it’s decrying” the recommendations, Gill said. He said the committees studied the merits of alternative takeoff patterns exhaustively.

Gill said the pilots complained that using the eastern runway to take off over Pasadena and Glendale forces them to maneuver quickly around the Verdugo Mountains, which is less safe than the alternative.

FAA officials could not be reached for comment.

The draft report still needs the approval of the airport authority and the FAA.