Accord Reached on New Burbank Airport Terminal

The decades-long controversy over a new terminal for Burbank airport took a major step toward resolution Wednesday, with airport and city officials reaching a draft agreement on a 14-gate, $300-million building.

In a victory for the city of Burbank, which waged a vigorous political and legal battle to curb increased air traffic and noise, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority agreed that any expansion of the new terminal beyond 14 gates would be linked to a mandatory flight curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“This is a historic day for the people of Burbank, for the airport and for the whole region,” Carl Meseck, president of the airport authority, said after emerging from closed-door discussions at Burbank City Hall to announce the agreement.

Peter Kirsch, special counsel for the city of Burbank, added: “What we have in place after 29 years of war is a structure for permanent peace between the airport and its neighbors.”

The draft agreement must still weather highly vocal opposition before its final consideration by the Burbank City Council.

The agreement is scheduled to be discussed at a town hall meeting Aug. 19, a Burbank planning board meeting Oct. 4 and a City Council hearing Oct. 19. The City Council vote on the plan could come within weeks after these public meetings, city officials said.

“I think there’s going to be contentious debate,” said Burbank Mayor Stacey Murphy. “People who want the airport shut down will not like this plan and neither will the people who want unconstrained expansion.”

But now that the city--which has spent about $6 million since 1995 to oppose airport expansion--has entered into an agreement with the airport authority, expansion opponents have lost their most potent ally. Nonetheless, former councilman and outspoken airport critic Ted McConkey says they will fight on.

“This is a total and complete sellout of the principles we have fought for for years,” McConkey said before the news conference announcing the agreement. “I don’t know what we plan to do. Some possibilities are immediate referendum, recall or court action.”

Opponents might get some help from the city of Los Angeles, which has sued the airport authority to seek a master plan and a more detailed environmental impact study of the expansion. That lawsuit is still in the courts, and will be pursued unless the council directs otherwise, said Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritzker.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, whose district is affected by airport takeoffs, said more concessions are needed.

“What I still want is for them to adopt a ‘share the noise’ policy, so all of the takeoffs don’t go to the west over Los Angeles, but some go to the east over Burbank,” Wachs said. “We’re going to continue to fight for that.”

Key to the compromise agreement was finding a way to eliminate most late night and early morning flights before construction is allowed to begin. The FAA had already ruled that the airport authority could not simply declare a curfew without conducting an extensive noise study.

The draft agreement got around this, at least temporarily, by calling for the terminal building to be closed from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. This would effectively dissuade late night and early morning commercial airline flights.

The airlines have yet to take a position on the terminal closure, said Neil Bennett, western regional director for the Air Transport Assn.

“Remember the Federal Aviation Administration is the final arbiter on the terminal closure,” Bennett said. “But the airlines are optimistic we can reach a reasonable agreement.”

Under the agreement, the expansion would take place in three phases.

In the first phase, which would take about three years, the existing 33-year-old terminal would be demolished while a 14-gate, 330,000-square-foot terminal with 5,000 parking spaces is built on the far side of the airport’s east-west runway.

The second phase could not begin until the FAA approved the nighttime curfew. The authority could then add two additional gates, plus an additional 1,000 parking spaces.

The third phase is contingent on the elimination of noise levels averaging 65 decibels or more in adjoining residential neighborhoods. It’s also contingent on the authority imposing a cap on the number of passengers at a figure to be determined later. Then three more gates and 2,000 more parking spaces could be added.

If all three phases are completed, the new, 430,000-square-foot terminal would have 19 gates and 8,000 parking spaces.

Further expansion would be prohibited.

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New Terminal Approved

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority and the city of Burbank have reached a draft agreement on a new 14-gate, $300-million terminal to replace the existing facility. The terminal could grow to 19 gates if certain conditions are met.

Source: Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport

Times staff writers David Colker and Patrick McGreevy contributed to this story.