Last week I fumed and ranted here about commissioners representing
Glendale having voted to approve going ahead with an airport building
project without building permits. There have been some developments.
Six commissioners, three representing Glendale and three
representing Pasadena, outnumber Burbank's three commissioners on the
Airport Authority. The sextet voted to start work on a project adding
a minimum of 40,000 square feet to the terminal that stands within
Burbank's city limits, but to do so without completing the city of
Burbank's building permit application and approval process. Burbank
commissioners supported the project, but opposed plans to go without
permits.
The permits were unrelated to ongoing controversy over a
voter-approved ballot initiative in Burbank aimed at blocking airport
expansion, a measure that coincidentally was ruled invalid by a judge
Friday. Indeed, with airports throughout the country under orders to
complete construction and install new security equipment by the end
of the year, Burbank's council recently enacted an ordinance intended
to assure security work can go ahead, setting it apart from the
long-running debate over expansion. The city is continuing its
efforts to block expansion not related to security.
As the airport panel's majority ordered, crews started work. On
the same morning my column about the issue appeared here, Friday, a
building inspector for the city of Burbank turned up at the airport.
Finding a demolition crew working without permits, he issued a "stop
work" order. A return to the site later in the day confirmed the work
had stopped. I spoke Monday with Dios Marrero, executive director of
the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, and he confirmed all
construction work was halted once the citation was issued.
"I directed the crews to stop working that same morning," Marrero
said. "The work will not start again until we have the permits." It's
not clear whether the authority's majority has a problem with its
order being disregarded, and the full panel won't meet again until
Sept. 3.
Marrero told me he's had to accept that, like many other airports
throughout the country, his will not finish security-related building
projects by the Dec. 31 deadline Congress set last year. The delays
have not been brought about by the city of Burbank. Blame instead
belongs at the feet of federal officials who set the deadline, then
warned that projects not first approved by federal authorities
