"Burbank airport group wants addition"

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Airport group wants addition
Two new buildings would solve security concerns and ease traffic, authority
officials say.
By Chris Wiebe
The Glendale (CA) News Press


BURBANK - The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority will submit a
proposal to the city of Burbank to build two buildings at Bob Hope Airport
to comply with a federal mandate to alleviate security concerns and ease
congestion in Terminal B, officials said.

The move comes in response to a July 31 letter from the Transportation
Security Administration saying that space limitations in Terminal B - which
is used by United, Skywest, American and Alaska airlines - is posing
problems for the airport's baggage-screening machine, said Dan Feger, deputy
executive director for the airport.

"[The Transportation Security Administration] has made it known to us that
this machine, its configuration, the way that the bags are handled there and
the congestion that they experience - there's a safety and security concern
for them," he said. "And they have asked us to provide additional space for
them to replace this machine with a higher capacity, better technology
machine that will allow them to inspect all of the bags."

To provide additional space, airport staffers are proposing a new building
south of the existing terminal to be used exclusively for inspecting
baggage, he said. They are also proposing a second, temporary structure to
accommodate rental car operations away from the main terminal. 
 
But any talk of adding buildings to the airport evokes the airport
authority's development agreement with the city of Burbank, established in
January 2005 to govern airport expansion.

Though a new building for inspecting baggage would likely not be allowed
under the terms of the development agreement, a federal mandate puts the
proposal in a different category, Feger said.

"I will tell you without a federal mandate, the development agreement would
probably not permit the [proposed baggage inspection building] because it's
a terminal-related function," he said. "We could not just go on our own and
build more baggage-handling equipment inspection space. But because we do
have a mandate from the [Transportation Security Administration], we do
believe that the development agreement permits that."

The development agreement contains an exception that the footprint of the
terminal can be expanded when mandated by federal law or according to
regulations or a written request from the Transportation Security
Administration, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

"The agreement expressly contemplated that condition," Gill said.

In regards to the second structure, the development agreement permits the
authority to develop rental car facilities at the airport as an "ancillary
function" not directly related to aircraft operations, Feger said.

"In other words, you do not have to have rental cars in the terminal
building in order to process passengers and get them on the airplane," he
said.

The new buildings will help to spread out the baggage claim area, ease
crowding in the terminal, as well as show compliance with the Transportation
Security Administration's request, said Airport Authority Commissioner and
Glendale City Councilman Bob Yousefian.

"It's mostly safety and security," he said. "This is not going to increase
the number of passengers; we're not increasing the size of the terminal.

All it does is it just provides more security and a little bit of comfort
for the people there and reduce frustration for the people who try to get
their baggage."

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