Glendale Residents’ Help Sought in Airport Feud

Frustrated Burbank officials plan to mail letters today asking Glendale residents to encourage their city’s officials to end the long-running dispute over a proposed Burbank Airport terminal expansion.

The two cities, along with Pasadena, each appoint three commissioners to the airport’s governing board, but Burbank has remained alone in objecting to many aspects of the new terminal.

Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins said Wednesday the two-page letter, signed by the five-member Burbank City Council and a member-elect, is an attempt to end an ugly and expensive stalemate.

“Glendale has been our traditional ally in so many things that we’ve done,” Wiggins said. “Hey, let’s get this thing worked out.”

But officials from Glendale and Pasadena have said repeatedly that the issues surrounding the airport controversy should be hammered out in private mediation sessions, or in court.

Airport officials, often with unanimous support from Glendale and Pasadena commissioners, say the facility needs a larger terminal to accommodate growing demand and meet modern safety standards.

But many Burbank residents worry that a larger passenger terminal will cause more traffic, aircraft noise, pollution and other problems.

The Burbank letter to Glendale residents states that negotiations surrounding the proposed new terminal broke down, but that a solution remains possible.

“Controversy over expansion of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport has gone on far too long and is beginning to poison the cooperative relationship between our two cities,” the letter reads. “That’s why we’re taking the unusual step of writing to request your help in resolving this important issue.”

The letter also includes highlights of Burbank’s own terminal expansion proposal, which was unveiled last month.

The proposal, which city officials call the Burbank Airport 21st Century Plan, calls for a new terminal with two additional terminal gates--16 instead of the current 14--in return for a nighttime curfew and a cap on additional flights of no more than 10% above the current number.

However, several proposed conditions would require approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the proposal has already been deemed unacceptable by representatives of airlines that fly out of Burbank.

In addition, airport officials expect a new terminal to have at least 19 gates.

Nevertheless, Wiggins said he hopes the letters help move things along.

“Mediation just has not worked,” he said. “I wish it had.”