LOCKHEED CASE TO BE ADDRESSED : BURBANK, REGULATORY OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS AEROSPACE FIRM'S $60 MILLION SETTLEMENT.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Burbank residents have been notified through their electric bills that Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $60 million settlement with 1,357 people will be the subject of a community meeting next month.

The Jan. 23 event is to be moderated by Benjamin Kaufman, a lawyer hired by the city to handle local hazardous waste issues.

Representatives from several environmental regulation agencies, including the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, have been invited, Kaufman said.

Lockheed Martin officials could not be reached for comment Friday, but they will be asked to attend the meeting, Burbank officials said.

``The idea is to provide the public with as much information as possible,'' Kaufman said, adding the intended focus will be on the public records available on the Lockheed site, the history of the contaminated property and the terms of the settlement.

The meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the John Burroughs High School Auditorium at 1920 Clark Ave.

The Burbank City Council decided in August to hold the informational meeting, shortly after the Daily News disclosed details of the confidential deal between the aircraft manufacturer and residents who claimed their property and health had been damaged by six decades of manufacturing at one of the firm's plants, known as B-1.

Lockheed did not admit any liability for property and health damages in agreeing to the settlement. Officials have said none of its historical operations ever posed a health risk to the plant's neighbors.

Disclosure of the novel deal, which was privately mediated outside of court, angered many Burbank residents who complained they had been unfairly left out of it despite experiencing the same kind of alleged exposures as individuals who had been included.

Hundreds of residents left out of the settlement have since joined lawsuits filed against the aerospace giant. The meeting next month will allow discussion of those lawsuits as well, city officials said.

``The city is just trying to act as a facilitator,'' said Councilman Bob Kramer.

Lockheed and retired Appellate Court Justice John Trotter, who mediated the deal, have launched investigations into how the confidentiality clause was breached, with residents involved in the settlement notified that at least some of the funds would be withheld pending the outcome of that inquiry.

City officials had invited Trotter to host the community meeting, but he declined, Burbank City Manager Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom said.

``The judge got ticked off that the word got out about the settlement . . . and decided not to come to the meeting,'' Ovrom said.

Trotter could not be reached for comment Friday.

The residents involved in the settlement alleged their health and property were harmed by Lockheed's emission of the carcinogen hexavalent chromium into the air, and of other contaminants into the soil and water.

About 80 of the plant's neighbors cited cancer deaths or serious illnesses in their families. The highest award was $300,000 to a family who had a member die of cancer.

Attorneys for the residents, David Casselman and Cliff Pearson, with the Tarzana-based firm Wasserman, Comden and Casselman, could not be reached for comment Friday.