Airport to Conduct Noise Curfew Study

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unveiled plans to study a nighttime noise curfew at Burbank Airport on Monday with the goal of limiting flights at the facility between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The $4-million noise study, which will be conducted under Part 161 of Federal Aviation Regulations, has been sought by Burbank residents and city officials who say they will not approve a new terminal without restricting the hours flights can operate at the facility.

Airport officials said the noise review will take place over the next 18 months and focus on gathering public opinion and information on airport operations before undertaking an extensive cost-benefit analysis of the noise restrictions.

“The purpose is to get an efficient and fast-paced application to the FAA over the next year that will be persuasive enough to get us a nighttime curfew at Burbank Airport,” said Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill. “The participation of all is a primary goal of our process.”

By the end of August, Gill said, the Airport Authority plans to hold four public forums--in Burbank, Sun Valley, North Hollywood and Sherman Oaks.

Airport and Burbank city officials were hoping to skirt the need for a formal noise study when they agreed last August to build a 14-gate terminal in exchange for plans to shut the Burbank Airport terminal between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. But that plan was rejected by Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Jane Garvey, who called it a noise rule that was subject to a noise study and federal approval.