Next Burbank Council Opposes Bigger Airport : Transportation: Most members of new panel favor a public referendum. Their opponents say a new terminal is needed to handle expected growth.

In a political sea change, the majority of Burbank’s next City Council opposes the controversial expansion of Burbank Airport and vows to order a referendum on the issue.

Supporters of expansion say it is necessary to serve natural growth in demand for air travel. Opponents, led by residents who live under the flight path in Burbank and Los Angeles, say they fear the pollution that expansion will bring.

The present council has generally favored expansion by a 3-2 margin. In November, council members George Battey Jr. and Robert Bowne joined Mayor Bill Wiggins in defeating a proposal to let citizens vote on expansion.

But Battey and Bowne are retiring, and a new council member who supports the idea of a referendum--Bob Kramer, a newspaper columnist and painting contractor--won election to the council last week. He will take his seat in May.

The council’s last open seat will be filled in an April runoff election between Mary Lou Howard, a former mayor, and Ted McConkey, a retired aerospace worker. Both favor a vote on airport expansion.

Two other council members--Councilwoman Susan Spanos and Vice Mayor Dave Golonski--are critics of airport expansion.

A referendum on expansion, though politically significant, would be non-binding. The airport is controlled by a nine-member commission whose members are appointed by the cities of Burbank, Pasadena and Glendale. However, the new council majority could issue land development decisions limiting or stalling the expansion.

McConkey, who has been endorsed by Spanos, said that last week’s primary “was a wake-up call and a vote of no confidence in (airport officials), generally, and airport commissioners specifically.”

“They should know the Burbank City Council and the people of Burbank will assert their right to control growth out there,” he added.

Airport officials continue to move forward with the first phase of the multimillion-dollar expansion. They want to build a larger terminal that would improve the airport’s ability to serve the public by adding up to 10 commercial flights a day to the present average of 93 and enough space to accommodate 5.4 million passengers flying into and out of Burbank in three years.

Projections provided by airport officials show that automobile traffic in and out of Burbank Airport will surge in nine years to about 1,980 vehicles during the average peak hour, more than double that of four years ago.

As an increasingly popular and convenient destination for air travelers in the San Fernando Valley, the Burbank Airport reached a record 4.6 million passengers during the 1994 fiscal year, about 10% of the volume at Los Angeles International Airport.

Los Angeles officials representing residents in the southeast San Fernando Valley have unsuccessfully sued twice to halt expansion. Despite their most recent setback in December, Los Angeles officials saw the Burbank elections as a cause for optimism.

“We’re glad to see a majority in Burbank that seems to have a better understanding that there are environmental consequences,” said Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker.

Airport officials contend that the need to push the project along quickly has less to do with the changing dynamics on the Burbank council than other factors, such as buying the land needed for a new terminal in a timely manner.

One of the first steps taken by airport officials to finance the land purchase was to seek the council’s approval to issue $100 million in tax-exempt bonds.

Federal law requires a public hearing before the council can approve the bonds. A hearing has been set for March 21 over the objections of Spanos and Golonski, who have said the decision should be postponed until the new council is seated.

Though acknowledging that new council members may not take office soon enough to stop the bonds, Kramer, Howard and McConkey said they would vote to deny a change in land use that is required before the terminal can be built.

Now, about 30 acres for the expansion that Burbank Airport officials hope to acquire from the Lockheed Corp. is designated for industrial use. It must be rezoned for airport use before the expansion can take place.

That issue, expected to come before the new council, could provide a powerful bargaining tool for the new majority.

Spanos declined to say how she would vote on the matter. But she acknowledged that the new council could require airport officials to obtain a special permit to limit aircraft gates and operations before rezoning the land.

The election has prompted Airport Commission President Brian Bowman of Burbank to say he would be willing to support a much smaller terminal than the one being proposed.

“I’ve got eyes and ears. I can read the tea leaves,” Bowman said.

Burbank council members, he added, “certainly have the control and the ability to influence what the authority builds at that site.”

Glendale has taken no official position on the idea of a popular vote, but Pasadena Mayor Kathryn Nack said she is opposed to such a ballot measure.