Sale of Airport Land Moves Step Closer

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority has approved the hiring of land-use consultants and property appraisers for the possible sale of 81 acres of Lockheed Martin land for a proposed airport terminal, airport officials said Tuesday.

The action, approved Monday on a 7-1 vote of the Airport Authority, comes after the city of Burbank and airport officials failed to make a deal for a new terminal by their self-imposed May 24 deadline.

“This does not in any way end negotiations between the parties over the terminal,” said Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill. “But the land-sale agreement called for the marketing of the property to begin if there was no solution in place by the deadline.”

Gill said the airport will hire consultants in the coming weeks to determine the market value of the property. As for any sale, it would hinge on Burbank’s option to purchase the property, he said.

Burbank Airport paid $86 million to Lockheed Martin to purchase the defense firm’s 130-acre Plant B-6 property. As part of the agreement, the airport took title to a 49-acre parcel with the remaining 81 acres held in a trust during negotiations for the terminal.

If Burbank does not exercise its option, the land will be put up for sale to a third party, which would be barred from building a terminal on the site, according to airport and city officials.

Burbank city leaders said last week they were weighing options to redevelop a portion of the property--possibly as a business or industrial park. Either way, officials said the City Council would make a formal decision within the next two months.

The airport has been trying since the 1980s to build a replacement for the 70-year-old terminal, which is too close to the east-west runway to meet present FAA standards.

Burbank officials said they have not abandoned efforts to reach a compromise that would allow the airport to modernize while achieving a curfew that would protect residents from late-night jet noise. Any terminal agreement must be approved by Burbank voters. Prospects for the terminal deal dimmed in March, when Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey said the airport could not impose an overnight curfew without conducting a $4-million federal noise study. The nighttime ban on flights was considered a crucial element of the deal.

Two weeks ago however, Garvey told city leaders that the FAA would try to speed up the required study, which normally takes three years.