Burbank Fears Suit if Flight Curbs Pass

A local ballot initiative that seeks to impose flight caps and a noise curfew as conditions for a new Burbank Airport terminal is flawed and could leave the city vulnerable to a lawsuit, city officials said.

A memo detailing problems, from City Atty. Dennis Barlow to Burbank City Council members, was meant to warn political leaders and the public about possible legal exposure faced by the city.

“The city has to be prepared to implement the initiative if it passes,” said Peter Kirsch, special counsel to Burbank on airport issues. “The council needs to be aware that implementation [of the measure] is a minefield filled with legal uncertainties.”

Ted McConkey, a co-founder of the group Restore Our Airport Rights (ROAR), which sponsored the measure, took issue with the attorney’s arguments.

The initiative would bar the Burbank City Council from approving “the construction, expansion or financing of an airport facility” unless a series of conditions has been met.

Those conditions--or restrictions--include a ban on all nonemergency air traffic from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.; caps on the number of flights and passengers; preparation of an environmental impact report; preparation of an airport master plan; and public approval by a two-thirds vote before a new terminal could be built.

In his memo, Barlow said that those provisions--and others--were vague and onerous, and most important, conflict with state law. That means that if the initiative passes, the city could be a target for lawsuits related to it.

A report from Burbank city officials pointed out Friday that the initiative would also be expensive. It would mean lost tax revenue, and result in added costs of $1 million for a required noise monitoring system and $85,000 for a special election on the terminal.

McConkey, a former Burbank city councilman, called Barlow’s memo and the city staff report “one set of opinions” on this issue.

“There’s always at least two sides in every legal dispute and often more,” McConkey said. “We are confident that it will survive the legal challenges and will be implemented. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll go back and do it again.”

Restore Our Airport Rights collected 7,814 signatures to qualify the measure last month. The Burbank City Council will decide today on a date between July 17 and Nov. 6 to put the initiative on the ballot.

The airport, which serves 4.7 million passengers annually, has been trying to overhaul the 70-year-old terminal since 1980. Airport and Burbank city officials were hoping to avoid a formal noise study when they reached an August 1999 deal allowing a 14-gate terminal on a 130-acre site as long as it is shut down between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

That agreement fell apart after the Federal Aviation Administration called for a lengthy noise study pending approval of a mandatory curfew, and both sides failed to come to terms on the terminal by the May 24 deadline last year.

Now the property is up for sale and airport officials are considering building a terminal on an alternative 41-acre parcel on the southwest side of the airport.