BURBANK : Airport Noise Foes Meet With Berman

Facing expansion of the Burbank Airport terminal and frustrated with failed efforts to control airplane noise, residential leaders from neighboring areas met Monday with aides to Rep. Howard Berman to map strategy.

The meeting, which included representatives of the Toluca Terrace-Woods Homeowners, Studio City Residents and Valley Village Homeowners associations, was to map strategy to combat noise in light of the airport’s plans to build a new, larger terminal.

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is scheduled to select a final expansion plan next Monday.

Berman (D-Panorama City) and community leaders are concerned that expansion of the airport be coupled with more flights taking off to the east, which would ease the noise impact on city residents southwest of the airport, Berman aide Tom Waldman said.

“We’re going to want to do something,” Waldman said. “We may try to get an ear to listen to us at the Federal Aviation Administration. At this point, that seems to be the option that makes the most sense.”

Waldman would not speculate on the details of how the FAA could help, but said Berman would outline his strategy by next week.

Community leaders said they sought Berman’s help because their past efforts to work with the airport to reduce noise have met with failure.

“We’re not opposed to a replacement terminal, but we support only a replacement terminal that allows for a sharing of the noise,” said Tom Paterson, chairman of the East Valley Airport Impacted Communities Coalition. “And we’re working with Congressman Berman’s office to gain that objective.”

Victor Gill, director of public affairs for the airport, said it was not the first time that homeowner groups have approached third parties “to try to increase leverage on the airport to somehow mandate takeoffs in different directions.”

“The airport has steadfastly refused to insert itself in any kind of regulatory scheme,” he added. “The airport has no right to tell airplane pilots where to fly and when to fly.”