Town Hall Meeting on Airport Plan Tonight

Several hundred people are expected to trek to the Burbank Airport Hilton tonight as city officials make their first public pitch for a proposed new terminal at Burbank Airport.

The town hall meeting--the first of three public sessions scheduled between now and October--will flesh out the fine points of the terminal proposal and give residents an opportunity to voice objections to the plan, city leaders said.

The 14-gate terminal would close from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily and could not be expanded without a mandatory nighttime curfew, which negotiators contend would ensure residents are protected from excessive noise.

But opponents, including outspoken airport critic and former Burbank Councilman Ted McConkey, maintain the terminal closure would do nothing to stop early morning and late-night flights that are the source of most complaints from residents.

“After spending $7.5 million on litigation, we have no caps and no curfews,” McConkey said. “This airport is going to overwhelm us.”

Burbank officials said the draft plan is consistent with past pledges to limit the size of the terminal, once planned for 19 gates with growth to 27 gates.

“This [agreement] is consistent with the city’s core principles: to support a 14-gate terminal but not to go above 14 gates without a curfew,” Burbank City Manager Robert R. “Bud” Ovrom said. “We recognize there is going to be passenger growth. What will contain the number of passengers is the number of gates.”

Terminal plans call for demolishing the existing facility--built in 1930--and replacing it with a 330,000-square-foot terminal with 5,000 parking spaces. The facility would be built northeast of the airport’s main runway on a 130-acre parcel formerly owned by Lockheed Martin.

Noisy, older-technology jets, known as Stage II aircraft, would be phased out over five years. The planes make up about 30% of the general aviation aircraft at Burbank Airport.

A second phase of the expansion could not begin until the Federal Aviation Administration approves the nighttime curfew. If that occurs, the authority could then add two gates, plus another 1,000 parking spaces.

A third phase of the project is contingent on the reduction of noise levels in adjoining neighborhoods.