Burbank Votes to Restrict Airport Expansion, Noise

Burbank voters on Tuesday approved a measure to limit noise and growth at Burbank Airport, in the city’s first all mail-in election.

With 19,092 voters casting ballots, Measure A passed with 58.3% of the total votes. A simple majority was needed.

Members of Restore Our Airport Rights, the group that sponsored the measure, cheered with every tally update. Howard Rothenbach, chairman of ROAR and a co-author of the initiative, credited the group’s volunteers who campaigned door to door.

“The people of Burbank ought to be congratulated. This was truly a grass-roots effort,” Rothenbach said.

Measure A seeks to reduce jet noise, air pollution and traffic congestion by imposing an overnight curfew and capping the number of flights in and out of Burbank Airport, which serves about 4.7 million passengers annually.

City officials fear Measure A could prompt lawsuits by the airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration or the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which runs the airport.

The nine-member authority is scheduled to discuss Measure A, also called the ROAR initiative, today in a special closed-door session.

If challenged in court, the city must defend it. But officials contend it would be “a hopelessly losing cause,” City Manager Bud Ovrom said.

“I don’t think there’s a chance it will hold up in court,” he said.

Under Measure A, the Burbank City Council may not approve construction or financing of “any new, rebuilt, relocated or expanded airport facility, under any conditions or due to any circumstances” unless a series of conditions are met.

In addition to flight caps and a curfew, the conditions include a limit on the number of passengers annually, a new environmental impact report and an airport master plan.

The measure prohibits the airport from lengthening or modifying existing runways and from adding new ones. It also requires the airport pay the city a fine of $5,000 per day for each violation of the initiative.

Furthermore, Measure A requires approval by two-thirds of the electorate before a new terminal could be built. It supersedes Measure B, passed by Burbank voters in November, which required approval by a majority of the electorate for construction of a new terminal.

The airport authority has been trying since 1980 to replace its 70-year-old terminal, which the FAA says sits too close to the runway.

The city of Burbank has spent about $10 million over the last five years in a legal battle to block the plans unless the airport imposes a curfew of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. to limit nighttime jet noise.

But the FAA says the airport cannot impose a curfew without first conducting a noise study. That study, which is underway, won’t be finished for a year.

On Tuesday, one Airport Authority member resigned over what he said were the divergent goals of securing a mandatory curfew and building a safer airport terminal. Dave Newsham, a former Burbank police chief, was one of that city’s three representatives on the panel.

Tuesday’s election cost the city about $100,000, plus an additional $10,000 for mailers, signs and advertising. More than a third of the city’s eligible voters mailed or hand-delivered their ballots, the largest response in almost 30 years.