Airport Given 60 Days to Pay for Terminal Site

Burbank Airport officials have 60 days to pay the balance of an $86-million price tag set by a jury this month for a new terminal site, a judge ruled Thursday.

Failure to pay the money could lead to forfeiture of the property, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority said.

The Airport Authority seized the 130-acre site from Lockheed Martin Corp. through its powers of eminent domain. After Lockheed filed suit to get a higher price for the land, a jury required the authority to pay $86 million.

Airport officials say they are reluctant to pay the money while the planned terminal faces a lengthy approval process from the city of Burbank.

“Unless Burbank is willing to speed up its review . . . it is very possible the terminal replacement effort . . . will come to an end,” Airport Authority President Joyce Streator said in a statement. “There is no way the authority can prudently justify further cash outlays if it is not clear we will be able to use the Lockheed land.”

Burbank, which co-owns the airport with Glendale and Pasadena, is concerned that the larger terminal will mean more flights--and more noise.

Burbank Mayor Stacey Murphy said the state-mandated process for reviewing the terminal calls for detailed analyses of the project by each city department, plus public hearings.

“If we rush it through, the fastest we’ll be able to review the plan is three to four months,” said Murphy. “The authority wants us to instantly approve it. But we can’t, because there’s a specific process we have to go through.”

The Airport Authority, which has already paid Lockheed Martin $36 million for the site, could complete the purchase without approvals for the terminal, spokesman Sean McCarthy acknowledged.

“But we would be hesitant to do that without some sort of guarantee,” McCarthy said. “The outcome is really in the hands of the city.”