Boy, it’s sure good we didn’t make them sell that land!
IS ACCORD A TRUCE, OR A SELLOUT? TERMINAL MAY STILL BE POSSIBLE UNDER PROPOSAL.
Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer BURBANK The City Council on Tuesday will vote on an accord with the Bob Hope Airport that officials describe as a truce in a contentious battle over airport expansion but that critics say leaves the door open for a new terminal. The agreement would block terminal construction for a decade, but allow the airport to acquire an additional parking lot and keep 59 acres of land on which a terminal could one day be built. To date, the city and the airport have spent more than $25 million in court wrangling over airport expansion. Council members said they still have doubts about the agreement, which requires three votes to pass. “There’s things about this that I favor – conceptually I favor it – but really we have to weigh the pros and cons of all the different pieces of this,” City Councilman Dave Golonski said. The agreement allows the city to force the sale of the 59 acres at the end of the 10 years. Speakers at a town hall Wednesday at the Buena Vista Branch Library questioned why the city does not now force the sale of the acreage, which is part of a swath of land called the B6 property, between Hollywood Way and the north-south runway “That B6 property is like a gun – without that land, they can’t expand,” said Donna Stebbeds of Burbank. Council members counter that, if the land is sold now, a developer could place a major project on the property that could clog Hollywood Way. Under the agreement, much of the land would remain vacant. “If you don’t have a Wal-Mart that’s generating many thousands of trips every day, then indeed that’s less traffic,” said Mayor Marsha Ramos.
January 16, 2005
Yes, thank goodness we’re taking precautions.
