Burbank Airport Expansion to Begin Despite Questions About Its Legality

With the legality of Burbank Airport’s expansion plans still under a cloud, its governing board forged ahead Tuesday with plans to start demolition work as early as today in order to meet a federal deadline for upgrading security.

Tonight, construction workers will begin sawing through concrete to remove a canopy over the outside baggage claim area on the runway side of the airport, in preparation for the pouring of a new foundation and construction of a temporary baggage conveyor, the project’s general contractor said. The airport plans to begin the work without obtaining city building permits.

The project, which will add 40,000 square feet of space to the 173,000-square-foot main terminal building, is necessary because of a mandate by the federal Transportation Security Administration that gives airports until the end of the year to upgrade baggage-check security, airport officials said.

“The clock is ticking,” said Victor Gill, spokesman for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

Expansion of the 1930s-era main terminal has long been a thorny issue in Burbank.

Since 1980, airport officials have been planning to build a new terminal on adjacent land. The most recent plans called for a 14-gate replacement terminal of between 250,000 and 330,000 square feet that would have included expanded passenger areas, retail and other amenities as well as additional space for airport operations.

The airport, which handled 4.5 million passengers last year, spent $86 million to acquire a 131-acre parcel formerly owned by Lockheed Martin as the site for a new terminal.

But the project got tied up in court and then was opposed by local residents, the airlines and, ultimately, the Federal Aviation Administration. As a result, the airport’s governing board decided to sell the property. Twenty-two acres are currently in escrow.

The airport authority still hopes to find a new site for a replacement terminal but suspended the search after the Sept. 11 attacks, Gill said.

Critics of the airport’s latest expansion plans are threatening to go to court to stop the construction that they say violates city law.

“Under the pretext of security, they’re trying to get in an airport expansion,” said Howard Rothenbach, chairman of the Restore Our Airport Rights committee, which campaigned for the successful Measure A last year. The voter-approved initiative prohibits the issuance of building permits for any new airport expansion or modification until the airport imposes a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and caps growth of the number of passengers at 10% over the current level.

A hearing on the legality of Measure A is scheduled for Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Rothenbach said his group believes the expansion exceeds security needs and will seek an injunction to halt construction.

Peter Kirsch, special counsel to Burbank on airport issues, said that the airport’s governing board may be rushing unnecessarily.

“The city and the [federal officials] believe that the project should move forward quickly. However, it need not violate city building codes to do so,” Kirsch said. “It would be so outrageous for a government agency to violate the law.”

He added that violators may be subject to fines as well as legal action for breaking local planning and zoning ordinances by failing to obtain the necessary permits.

The general contractor for the project, for one, said he’s not too worried about violating city laws.

“Obviously, our first desire is to work within laws, local and federal,” said Gary Hopkins, president of George C. Hopkins Construction Co. of Glendale. But he said he believes that in this case, the federal mandate--especially when motivated by security concerns--supersedes local land-use law.

“It’s really a job that can be done without the city’s blessing,” Hopkins said. “The city of Burbank, I can’t imagine that they would send their police out to stop the construction.”

Faced with the imminent expansion, the Burbank City Council approved an emergency ordinance Tuesday night that would exempt security-related construction from city laws prohibiting airport expansion--but only if a judge declares Measure A invalid.

Despite the ordinance, council members expressed skepticism about the airport’s motives in its urgent push to begin construction. “I don’t think all of this is for security measures, and I have some problems with it,” said Burbank Vice Mayor Stacey Murphy.