Burbank Seeks to Revoke Federal Grant for Airport Terminal

Charging that Burbank Airport’s governing board misled the Federal Aviation Administration, city officials Tuesday sought the revocation of an $8.6-million grant earmarked for a controversial new passenger terminal project.

In a letter and other documents delivered to FAA officials in Washington, D.C., a lawyer representing Burbank--which opposes a larger terminal--declared that airport officials “misrepresented facts” on their grant application.

“Everything the airport does with us these days is couched in deceit and misrepresentation,” said City Manager Robert R. Ovrom. “You’re not going to sneak an airport terminal through in the middle of the night. . . . I think they duped the FAA.”

Thomas E. Greer, the airport’s executive director, said the charges were baseless.

“It sounds like baloney to us,” Greer said. “We stand by our grant application and we are confident the FAA will stand by the grant offer.”

The nine-page letter by lawyer Peter J. Kirsch asked that federal officials suspend the grant, investigate the matter and determine whether any laws were violated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

Among other complaints, the city charged that despite various pending lawsuits, the airport authority’s grant application indicated there were no factors that might make the terminal project impossible.

The city also charged that the authority incorrectly claimed that no businesses would be displaced by the project, that no “state, local, regional or other planning approval” was required, despite existing state law (currently being challenged in court by the airport authority), and that project cost estimates in the application were contradictory.

City officials and many Burbank residents oppose a larger passenger terminal because of concerns about noise, traffic and other problems.

The grant, which would be awarded as reimbursement from the FAA, is supposed to go toward the purchase of land from Lockheed Martin Corp. The airport authority is seeking to acquire a 130-acre site north of the existing terminal from Lockheed through condemnation.

Airport officials recently offered Lockheed $3 million--$39 million to cover the land’s appraised value, minus $36 million in estimated cleanup costs. But Lockheed’s asking price was closer to $100 million.

Mitch Barker, a spokesman for the FAA, said the agency would need several days to review the issues raised by Burbank officials.

Last March, the FAA approved an environmental report for a larger terminal.

Gene Smith, a spokeswoman for Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), who strongly criticized the FAA when it awarded the grant in September, said the congressman would certainly want to review the letter from Burbank.

“He would want to look closely and he would want the FAA to look closely at the points that have been raised,” she said.

Maureen L. Curow, a spokeswoman for Lockheed, said the aerospace giant was confident the airport authority would buy the land eventually. The matter remains in court because of condemnation proceedings, but the sale should not be hurt by other disputes, she said.

“We’re a landowner and we want to sell our property,” she said. “We’re not favoring one agency over another.”