Burbank Airport Panel Votes to Build New, Larger Terminal : Growth: The facility will be four times the size of the existing one. Its first phase is expected to be completed in 1998.

Culminating more than a decade of debate and study, the Burbank Airport Authority voted Monday to build a new, larger terminal northeast of the runways to resolve long-time safety concerns and to accommodate projected increases in passengers.

The panel, officially called the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, unanimously backed a plan to build a 670,000-square-foot terminal with 12,300 parking spaces--four times the size of the current 163,344-square-foot building with 3,500 parking spaces.

The new terminal will be located on 110 acres of property owned by Lockheed Corp. that until about three years ago was home to the firm’s advanced military aviation development center, commonly known as the Skunk Works.

The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by 1998.

Plans for a new terminal have been in the works since 1980, when the Federal Aviation Administration began to pressure airport officials to replace the current terminal, which was built in 1930, because it is closer to the runways than modern safety guidelines permit.

Additionally, consultants for the airport estimate that about 5 million passengers a year will fly in and out of the airport by 1998, increasing to 10 million by the 2010. The airport currently serves nearly 4 million passengers annually.

The decision to select one of five terminal replacement options came despite sharp criticism from Los Angeles city officials and school administrators who said the larger terminal will mean more flights and additional noise to surrounding schools and homes.

“The noise and the air is everybody’s responsibility and I call on you to think of the children,” said Ruth Bunyan, principal of Roscoe Elementary School, which is located north of the airport in Sun Valley.

She was joined by the principals of Oxnard and Glenwood schools, both of which are near the airport but within the city of Los Angeles. The principals urged airport officials to consider setting aside funds to soundproof those schools as part of the expanded terminal plan.

Airport Commissioner Michael R. Hastings said the airport plans to set aside funds next year to help soundproof Glenwood Elementary School, which is in Sun Valley about two blocks north of the airport’s north-south runway.

Among the 35 people who attended the meeting Monday were representatives of City Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky, Ernani Bernardi and Joel Wachs, all of whom urged the airport authority to further study noise problems before adopting the new terminal plan.

But airport officials defended the terminal project, saying the new building will not in itself generate more passengers and more flights but will simply accommodate the growing demand that is projected.

“It is the increase in passenger counts and . . . flights that will increase noise,” said Airport Commissioner Brian B. Bowman. “It has nothing to do with the terminal.”

In response to criticism from Los Angeles City Council members, Bowman pointed out that Los Angeles approved a plan last month for a new 700,000-square-foot terminal at Ontario Airport--nearly 10 times the size of its current terminal.

Several speakers at the meeting voiced support for the new terminal, saying it will generate jobs to replace those lost after Lockheed decided in 1989 to move its manufacturing operations from Burbank to Palmdale and to Marietta, Ga.

James R. Simpson, president of Friends of the Burbank Airport, said the new terminal will benefit the entire region. “Consider what is good for the airport and the community,” he said.

As proposed, the project will be built in two phases. The first, to be completed by 1998, will be a 465,000-square-foot building with 6,700 parking spaces on 60 acres. The second phase, scheduled for completion in 2010, will expand the project to 670,000 square feet with 12,300 parking spaces.

One of the biggest potential hurdles for the new terminal is the contamination of the chosen site and its ground water with the residue of toxic chemicals.

Airport Commissioner Carl W. Raggio Jr. said that Lockheed is responsible for the cleanup as a condition of the sale, and that the airport will not take over the land until it is assured that the soil and ground water are clean.

But it has yet to be determined how extensive the contamination is and how much a cleanup will cost. An estimate about two years ago put the price tag as high as $100 million--about equal to the market value of the property. In addition to the land costs, airport officials have said that the cost of building the new terminal could range between $150 million and $200 million.

The next step in building the project, Raggio said, is to negotiate a sale price for the land with Lockheed and then decide on how to pay for the project.

The most likely payment plan would be to issue bonds, he said. The airport authority has also considered adding a $3 fee on each airline ticket, which would raise more than $9 million annually, Raggio said.

Over the past decade or so, airport officials have launched two other studies on the construction of a replacement terminal.

The first study was killed in 1985 after Lockheed officials changed their mind about selling property near the Skunk Works that airport officials were considering.

The second study, launched in 1987, was scrapped after a court decision in a Northern California case indicated that the airport must study every available option before approving a new terminal construction plan. Because airport officials had studied only one alternative, airport officials decided to abandon the effort and start over.

Burbank Airport’s Expansion The terminal replacement plan was chosen from five alternatives. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by 1998 and the second phase by 2010. It wil cost about $200 million to build, in addition to land costs.