Airport Authority Seat Filled

Seeking a familiar candidate more attuned to their views on airport growth and noise issues, Burbank City Council members Tuesday selected Charles Lombardo to fill the city’s vacant seat on the nine-member Burbank airport authority.

City officials praised Lombardo, 44, who comes to the job well-versed on the city’s contentious battle against the airport authority’s plans to build a bigger airport terminal.

“Charley’s been involved with the airport a very long time,” said Mayor Bob Kramer. “He’s bright and he knows the issues.”

Kramer voted to give the post to Lombardo, along with Councilwoman Stacey Murphy and Councilman Bill Wiggins.

As one of Burbank’s three representatives on the airport authority, Lombardo replaces former television newsman John Flynn, who was ousted by the council in December after only three months on the job. City officials said they fired Flynn because he was not in tune with the “philosophies of Burbank.”

“As a commissioner, your responsibility is to protect the interests and the quality of life of the residents of Burbank,” Lombardo said. “And I intend to live up to that commitment.”

In a public interview before the city council last month, Lombardo said he supports the city’s “21st Century Plan,” which would limit the terminal’s expansion to 16 gates instead of the proposed 19 and would impose a mandatory curfew on take-offs and landings in the early morning and late night hours.

Burbank operates the airport under a joint powers agreement with Glendale and Pasadena but is now in court, defending Burbank’s attempt to try to block the airport from purchasing land for the new terminal building.

Burbank has complained that an expanded terminal building will increase airport noise and traffic. Airport administrators contend that the level of airport usage is determined by passenger and airline demand, not the size of the terminal.

Within weeks, Superior Court Judge Carl J. West is expected to decide whether Burbank still has the land use power the city invoked in the terminal dispute, or whether it delegated that power to the authority when the city signed the joint powers agreement that established the airport body.

The judge has encouraged both sides to settle the argument out of court.

Lombardo said he would support such a settlement but only if the city prevails on the basic issue of limiting airport expansion. “We have no control over what happens in the courts, but I’m going to use Burbank’s 21st century plan as the framework for any negotiations,” he said.

Lombardo, a vice president of LaSalle National Leasing Corporation, has lived in Burbank 11 years and has been active in city politics.