"Burbank airport pact takes shape"

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Airport pact takes shape
City gets an earful from the community on the night they plan to vote on
agreement that would limit development at Bob Hope Airport.
By Mark R. Madler
The Burbank (CA) Leader


DOWNTOWN BURBANK - After months of debate, City Council members were set to
vote Tuesday night on a development agreement for Bob Hope Airport.

People were turned away from the full council chambers for the meeting that
had only the agreement as its sole agenda item.

A vote had not been taken by press time.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, a number of speakers
implored the council to make a decision that night and not postpone the
vote.

Whereas most council meetings tend to be dominated by anti-airport expansion
speakers, Tuesday's meeting included a large number of speakers urging the
board to approve the agreement to bring certainty over what will happen at
the airport.

"This is a compromise, and a compromise, by definition, won't make everybody
happy," said resident Vos Peterson, who lives one mile from the airport.
"This is something you need to do."

The opposition sang its now-familiar refrain to the council - that the city
doesn't benefit from the agreements and that it gives up land control rights
at the airport.

Wayne Jackson, a 35-year resident, said that while the agreement has some
good points, it says nothing about what happens after it expires.

"There are too many loopholes," Jackson said. "This allows, at a future
date, for the airport to increase in size or expand the terminal."

Since the announcement in June that the city and the Burbank-
Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority were working on the agreement, the issue
has come to dominate debate of the city's future, spawned two lawsuits and
will most like play a major role in next month's City Council election.

The seven-year agreement is meant to end clashes between the city and
airport authority on land use and zoning issues so officials can concentrate
on a long-term airport plan, said Peter Kirsch, the attorney representing
the city in airport matters. 

The proposed development agreement spells out how city and airport officials
will reduce airport noise, stop terminal expansion for 10 years, acquire an
adjacent parking lot, hold off on selling 55 acres of neighboring property
that is held in trust and construct a taxi-way.

Among the side issues resulting from the proposed agreement was a lawsuit
challenging Kirsch as the city's attorney because he was not licensed to
practice in California. A Superior Court judge rejected that lawsuit, but it
is on appeal. 

A lawsuit was also filed to force the city to take the agreement to a vote
of the residents. In October, a superior court judge found that the suit was
premature because no agreement had been adopted and it was later withdrawn.


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