Noise Secondary to Safety

The most common complaint about airports in the Los Angeles area is noise. But the four emergency landings that occurred on San Fernando Valley streets in recent weeks is a reminder that the most important issue is safety. Which brings us to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport and the city of Burbank’s stubborn resistance to building a new terminal.

A new terminal is needed for a number of reasons--the old one is crowded, old-fashioned, lacking in amenities for travelers. But the big reason is safety. The current terminal opened in 1930 to serve biplanes, not jets. It is just 313 feet from the runway center line although the Federal Aviation Administration recommends at least 750 feet.

The city of Burbank and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority have been locked in battle for years over building a new terminal. Burbank fears a new, bigger terminal will mean more flights and more noise. The Airport Authority recently offered to scale down the size of the facility. It looked like the long standoff might finally end.

Or it looked that way for a while. Now the sniping has picked up again, with Burbank saying it needs more time to study plans submitted by the authority before it can approve use of the proposed site. Trouble is, the authority doesn’t have more time. A judge has given it 60 days to either pay for the property, which is owned by Lockheed Martin, or pull out of the deal, forfeiting money it’s already paid and possibly opening itself to still more lawsuits.

Not our problem, counter Burbank officials. Since when is safety not their problem? The site the authority wants to buy meets the FAA’s distance requirements. Why can’t Burbank officials agree to the site while continuing to review plans for the actual building? Instead, the city of Burbank continues to hold the new terminal hostage to its demands for nighttime flight curfews and noise caps.

Noise is annoying. We are all for whatever Burbank can work out between the Airport Authority and the airlines. But noise is a separate--and a secondary--issue to safety. Burbank must separate the two and stop holding safety hostage.