Airport’s Plan for Terminal Is Scaled Down

Continuing a push for a compromise, Burbank airport’s governing board has voted to ask the city of Burbank to approve a proposal for a scaled-down terminal building, airport officials said.

The application is one of several submitted to the city since airport and Burbank negotiators agreed to a framework for settlement of the dispute in August 1999, said Burbank airport spokesman Victor Gill.

With Monday’s vote, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority approved cutting the size of the planned 330,000-square-foot terminal to 255,000 square feet with 14 gates.

Burbank officials have said they will not approve a new terminal without a ban on night flights. Under Federal Aviation Administration rules, the airport cannot impose such restrictions without agency approval upon completion of a long and exhaustive noise study.

Burbank city leaders must also submit any airport plan to city voters for approval.

Airport officials said they hoped that the latest offer--including a requirement for a curfew, annual payments to the city to make up for lost property taxes and Burbank’s demands for total control over the future of the airport--will be accepted. The airport board voted Monday to make the new application.

City officials said they had not seen the proposal and would not immediately comment. For the last two decades, the airport has been trying to replace its 1930s-era building.

“We’re trying hard to find reasonable middle ground while there is still time to do so,” said Airport Authority President Carl Meseck.