Burbank Airport Officials Discuss Timetable for Terminal : Building: Authority hopes to have funding by spring to begin acquiring land for larger facility. Vice mayor says there hasn’t been enough dialogue on its size.

Revealing new details of their hoped-for timetable to build a larger terminal for Burbank Airport, airport officials said Tuesday that they want funds available as early as March or April to begin acquiring land for the controversial project later this year.

That news seemed to surprise at least one Burbank city councilman, who expressed misgivings about the project’s potentially negative impact on residents of the city.

“I still don’t think there’s been any dialogue on what the appropriate size of the terminal should be for Burbank,” said Vice Mayor Dave Golonski. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that more flights is going to mean more noise.

“I do support the need to build a replacement terminal. I think it (the airport) is a major asset to Burbank. I’m not sure a bigger terminal makes it that much more of an asset.”

The Airport Authority has argued--and a federal judge agreed--that the size of the terminal has no direct effect on the number of flights out of the facility, and thus on airport-caused noise.

In fighting a suit by the city of Los Angeles to hinder construction of the terminal, the Airport Authority argued that under federal law, the airport must be open to all airlines, which decide how many flights to offer there based on market factors. A federal judge ruled in favor of the Airport Authority’s argument that airlines make such decisions regardless of the terminal’s size.

The Airport Authority is under orders from the Federal Aviation Administration to replace the current terminal, built more than 60 years ago, because it is too close to the runways to meet modern safety regulations.

After winning the major court victory against Los Angeles last month enabling them to move forward with the terminal project, airport officials face yet another obstacle: the Burbank City Council.

One of the first steps airport officials expect to take is to seek the council’s approval to issue about $100 million in tax-exempt bonds to raise funds to help pay for 140 acres of land.

Tax-exempt bonds allow an entity such as the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority--each city appoints three of the authority’s nine commissioners--to raise capital. Investors who buy such bonds earn interest exempt from federal and California income taxes.

Under federal law, the bonds cannot be issued until a public hearing is held and the Burbank council or some other elected body approves the idea.

Airport Controller Dios Marrero told council members he would like to hold the public hearing by February or March, leading to an immediate council vote so that bonds could be floated in the spring.

But he assured them that planning for the project has not progressed far.

“We’re essentially at home plate,” he said, “and we’re waiting for the pitcher to wind up.”

Golonski responded critically. “I’m not going to be inclined to support a request for the issuance of bonds without having some more information or knowing more of the details,” he said.

Airport officials hope eventually to raise $350 million for the first phase of the project, which would nearly triple the size of the present 163,000-square-foot building, add five aircraft gates to the present 14 and almost double the available parking spaces by 1998.

Of that money, $85 million would pay for the terminal building, $40 million for the parking structure and $15 million the ramps and taxiways. Millions of dollars more, airport officials said, would be spent to insulate nearby homes from aircraft noise.

Airport Executive Director Tom Greer also provided the council with a tentative timetable for completing much of the work.

By the end of this year, he said, the Airport Authority hopes to complete planning for the project and purchase three land parcels on which the expansion will take place.

In 1996 and 1997, airport officials plan to issue additional bonds to pay for construction, which is set to begin in early 1997, they said.

Some on the council expressed dismay over what they perceived as the Airport Authority’s lack of consideration for the potentially adverse effects the project may have on Burbank residents.

“There has to be a higher level of public influence on the entire process,” said Councilwoman Susan Spanos.

In response to complaints about the timing of the Airport Authority’s meetings Monday mornings, the board’s president has agreed to hold occasional nighttime meetings.

The first is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in the airport’s Skyroom.