Airport Panel OKs Plan to Soundproof School

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority voted Monday to spend $4 million to insulate a Burbank Adult School as part of continuing efforts to reduce the effects of aircraft noise on local residents, airport officials said.

By a unanimous vote, the airport’s nine-member governing board agreed to pay for upgrades at the Mingay Adult School, according to airport spokesman Victor Gill.

Improvements at the school will include new windows, doors and floors as well as acoustical ceiling tiles and central air conditioning, Gill said.

It is expected to be completed in two years.

The project will be paid for with Federal Aviation Administration grants and airport matching funds.

Mingay is the last of four schools--including Burbank Middle School, St. Patrick’s Schoolin North Hollywood and Glenwood Elementary School in SunValley--to receive the upgrades.

“I think there’s a perception that a lot of people are standing on the sidelines,” Gill said.

“The fact of the matter is a lot of the program is very well-subscribed.”

By the time the Mingay school project is finished, the Airport Authority and FAA will have funded more than $12.5 million in school soundproofing projects, Gill said.

In addition to the schools, nine residences have been protected as part of the airport’s noise mitigation efforts. Goals are for more than 2,000 to be soundproofed in the coming years.