BURBANK : Residents Lash Out Over Airport Plans
Just days after plans to finance a larger Burbank Airport terminal were indefinitely put on hold, more than 60 residents against expansion efforts lashed out in anger during a town hall meeting, many charging that airport officials have failed to be completely forthright about the proposed project.
The retreat by airport officials was announced Monday. But it seemed to do little to calm the fears of homeowners, who said Wednesday night that they worry about the increased aircraft noise and traffic that might result from the first phase of a larger terminal.
Within three years, airport officials hope to build a terminal building nearly three times its present size, with the capacity to handle 5.4 million passengers. But the project faces stiff opposition from Burbank City Council members.
Throughout the 3 1/2-hour meeting at Luther Burbank Middle School, some speakers pointed to two recent studies by airport officials. The reports concluded that 64% of people surveyed in Burbank favor a larger terminal and that the airport currently helps support 17,115 jobs.
“I don’t think the fellow who works in the City of Industry and delivers toilet paper to a restaurant at the airport is dependent on the airport,” Ralph Gee, 71, told the Burbank City Council. “We’re constantly getting different figures as to the number of jobs dependent on the airport, and they’re always highly exaggerated.”
Wednesday’s town hall meeting was originally intended to give the Burbank City Council a chance to hear public comments before a March 21 public hearing that was scheduled to determine whether airport officials may issue $100 million in tax-exempt bonds.
But commissioners on the airport’s nine-member operating board, the Airport Authority, canceled the hearing and are rethinking their financial plans because of strong opposition from present and incoming council members.
“As of today,” Burbank Vice Mayor Dave Golonski said Wednesday, “I have no idea what the Airport Authority is planning to do.”
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