State Judge Refuses to Rule on Burbank Airport Expansion

A state court judge on Thursday denied a request by the city of Burbank to rule on whether a 19-gate terminal planned for Burbank Airport violated municipal zoning laws. The decision by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Joe D. Hadden means Burbank officials must decide shortly whether to move ahead with a trial, which is scheduled for May 3.

When the suit was first filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last year, Burbank argued that the airport terminal project should not proceed because it was located on land zoned for manufacturing.

The case was later moved to Ventura County after a change of venue was requested.

“This whole lawsuit seemed contrived to us from the beginning,” said Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill. “The city invited us to make a presentation and letters leading to the lawsuit followed two days later.”

But Peter Kirsch, special counsel for Burbank on airport issues, said the zoning question would have to be resolved one way or another.

“The issue of whether the terminal is going to be built in compliance with Burbank zoning laws has to be resolved sooner or later,” Kirsch said. “We argued that it should be resolved now so what we can move closer to settling the whole dispute. The authority preferred to defer resolution, which is disappointing but doesn’t change their admission that their current plan violates Burbank zoning.”

Last year, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl J. West ruled that although Burbank had the power to regulate construction of a new terminal within its borders under state law, the city could not block the project because it relinquished that right when it signed a joint powers agreement to run the airport with the cities of Glendale and Pasadena.