Airport Panel Approves Payment to Lockheed

BURBANK —  Spelling a possible end to years of hostility, recrimination and lawsuits, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Wednesday authorized a partial payment to Lockheed Martin for land to construct a new airport terminal.

The 8-0 vote gives Acting Airport Director Dios Marrero the authority to pay Lockheed $30 million toward the purchase of its 130-acre Plant B-6 site.

But the panel stopped short of approving payment immediately, as airport officials want to seek further assurances from the city of Burbank that it will drop its opposition to the planned 14-gate terminal.

Airport officials also want the right to expand the airport beyond 14 gates based on passenger demand, while Burbank wants to link expansion to implementation of an overnight flight curfew.

“What we are trying to do is signal that the Airport Authority is willing and able to make the payment to Lockheed,” Marrero said. “If a framework can be reached, then we will make the payment.”

After the meeting both sides resumed intense talks that were expected to last late into Wednesday and possibly through Aug. 6. That is the end of a 10-day grace period for the airport to pay Lockheed the $30 million in partial compensation for the land it seized under eminent domain in 1997.

A jury last month set the total price at $86 million. If the Airport Authority were to fail to complete the purchase, Lockheed lawyers say it would potentially face millions of dollars in damages for wrongful seizure of the land.

Burbank City Manager Robert R. “Bud” Ovrom indicated in a letter to Marrero last week that a 14-gate terminal appeared to be “basically consistent with long-standing city policy.”

He added that future expansion of the facility had to be linked to mandatory noise restrictions--an issue that has become a key point of contention, according to sources on both sides.

Even so, Wednesday’s vote was hailed as a key step toward construction of a modern terminal to replace the existing facility, which dates back to 1930.

A final agreement is expected “in the next hours or days,” said Airport Authority President Carl Meseck.

Charles Lombardo, an Airport Authority member from Burbank, said the vote continues the momentum toward accord that has been building since spring, when a state appellate court ruled that Burbank has authority over land-use decisions at Burbank Airport.

“It’s another step in the right direction,” Lombardo said.

Even after the purchase, however, the terminal plan must undergo public hearings and be approved by the City Council. Hearings are not expected for two months.

In the meantime, opponents of the plan have accused city officials of cutting a back-room deal that doesn’t adequately protect residents from aircraft noise and traffic generated by a new terminal.

“Despite what the city has said, they are seriously negotiating and they have cut the public out of the process,” said longtime airport critic Ted McConkey. “If they come in and hold a public hearing after illegally deciding what their vote is going to be, Burbank residents will take action, whether that’s a recall, referendum or other legal steps.”