AIRPORT INITIATIVE QUALIFIES FOR BALLOT.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

BURBANK - A proposed initiative that would require any new Burbank Airport terminal plan to set a limit on flights and to impose a nighttime curfew qualified Tuesday for the Burbank ballot.

Of 10,865 signatures submitted by Restore Our Airport Rights, 7,184 were verified by the Los Angeles County Registrar's Office - 151 more than needed to put the measure before voters.

``I am just so happy. Everybody worked so hard. I am speechless,'' said Howard Rothenbach, the ROAR chairman, who waited in the Burbank City Clerk's Office until nearly 6 p.m. for the registrar's decision to be faxed over.

The City Council now can decide whether to place the initiative on a special ballot in six months or simply to adopt the measure itself. The council also can ask for a study to be done within 30 days on the effects the initiative might have on the city.

Rothenbach said he hopes the council adopts the initiative as an ordinance.

``It would save us the work of a campaign and them the money," he said, estimating the cost of a special election at $70,000 to $80,000.

The proposed initiative would require any plan adopted for a new passenger terminal at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport to include a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and fines for violations by airlines. The number of flights and passengers would be capped at 10 percent more than the levels in 2000.

In addition, it would require a new environmental impact report on the expansion project and independent noise monitoring by the city.

Charles Lombardo of Burbank, a commissioner on the Airport Authority board, said the initiative needlessly ties the hands of negotiators trying to get a terminal plan approved.

``This is not the right way to go about resolving the airport issue,'' he said. ``The City Council has proven that tough negotiation can get us a project that we can all agree on."

He noted that original plans for a new, federally required terminal called for a 27-gate, 675,00-square-foot structure. After years of negotiating with Burbank officials, the Airport Authority has agreed to a 14-gate, 250,000-square-foot building.

The location of the proposed terminal is in dispute, however, after the authority board tried unsuccessfully to get city approval to build on a 130-acre site formerly owned by Lockheed Martin. The board is considering building a new terminal on land the authority owns southwest of the old structure that federal aviation officials want replaced.