Airport Terminal Deadline Missed

The deadline for approving a new Burbank Airport terminal expired Wednesday, triggering a process that could end with the sale of land earmarked for the $300-million project.

The draft terminal deal--signed by negotiators for the city of Burbank and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority last August--had been considered dead for months because of objections from residents, airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration.

But with the passage of Wednesday’s deadline for the parties to reach agreement on a final deal, the city now has 60 days to decide whether to buy up to 81 acres of the 130-acre terminal site. The land was acquired from Lockheed Martin last year and has been held in trust pending a final agreement.

If Burbank does not buy the land, it 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.

The short timeline ratchets up pressure on both the city and the Airport Authority to break the stalemate over the proposed 14-gate terminal.

“I wouldn’t say it’s dead, but it has taken a strong turn for the worse,” said Burbank City Manager Robert R. “Bud” Ovrom. “Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall, and I’m not sure the pieces can be put back together.”

Prospects for the terminal deal dimmed in March, when FAA 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.

Victor Gill, spokesman for the Airport Authority, held out hope that a compromise could yet be salvaged. Even as Burbank mulls whether to buy the land, the authority is pursuing the federal noise study in the hopes that the FAA will bless a curfew on late-night flights.

“The key is answering the curfew question in a timely fashion,” he said, adding that finding a new buyer for the land intended for the terminal could take years. “It’s just a question of how long the door can remain open.”

Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins, in a statement Tuesday, said city staff is now analyzing redevelopment opportunities “for at least some of” the property. He said the City Council would make a decision within the next 60 days.

The land could generate tax revenue and jobs as a business or industrial park, Ovrom speculated. “I would think we would buy at least some of it,” he said.

City Councilman Bob Kramer, too, said he expects the city to buy part or all of the land, possibly to develop a hotel or retail space.

The authority already owns 49 acres acquired from Lockheed Martin last year, but that acreage lies alongside the runways and is considered unsuitable for a terminal. The other portion of the Lockheed site is being held in trust.

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 under modern FAA standards.

A Southwest Airlines 737 skidded onto a city street there two months ago, exacerbating safety concerns about the airport’s outdated layout.

Still striving for a compromise that allows the airport to modernize, Burbank officials have not abandoned efforts to nail down a curfew that would protect residents from late-night jet noise. The City Council has agreed to put any terminal agreement before voters.

Last week, Garvey told city leaders that the FAA would try to speed up the required study, which normally takes three years.

Wiggins estimated that the study could be completed in as few as 18 months and said the city is willing to continue negotiations with the Airport Authority.

“Both the residents of Burbank and the users of the airport have much to gain from a deal,” he said, “and nothing to gain from letting this dispute fester for months or years.”