Wednesday, January 26, 2005
City gives OK to airport agreement
After changes are reviewed, council votes 4-1 in favor of development pact.
By Mark R. Madler
The Burbank (CA) Leader
DOWNTOWN BURBANK – City Council members took a final crack Tuesday night at considering a development agreement for Bob Hope Airport. The council voted 4-1 in favor of the agreement, with Councilman Jef Vander Borght voting against it.
Councilman Dave Golonski said the council and city staff worked hard on the agreement – to bring it from an idea to a concept – and then hammered out the details.
“From my position, I think we’re getting a good agreement,” Golonski said. “It would be a huge mistake for us not to do it.”
Councilwoman Stacey Murphy said she wasn’t always in favor of the agreement, but now sees it as the best course of action for the city to take.
“One of the biggest reasons I’m voting for it is we are gaining things,” Murphy said. “And it gives incentives to the airport to prove to us they will be good neighbors.”
The seven-year agreement is meant to end clashes between the city and airport authority on land-use and zoning issues so that officials can concentrate on a long-term airport plan.
The proposed development agreement spells out how city and airport officials will reduce airport noise, stop terminal expansion for 10 years, allow the airport to acquire the adjacent Star Park parking lot, and would require the selling of the 55 acres of neighboring property that is held in trust at the end of the 10 year term and construct a taxi-way.
The changes the council made to the document include requiring a plan for how the trust property will be developed if the Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority decides to sell it. It also allows the city to petition for changes in federal law as long as it is not related to or conflicts with the development agreement. The airport authority commission must approve the changes.
