Burbank Airport OKs Report on Jet Noise

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority has approved a controversial report that contains recommendations to help airport neighbors live with noise, including soundproofing homes and schools, compensating some owners for loss of serenity and even razing a handful of houses.

The report’s prime conclusion--that nothing more can be done to reduce aircraft noise at Burbank Airport--has triggered an angry reaction from airport neighbors and Los Angeles city officials.

After another round of denunciations from nearby residents over noise, the authority on Monday made minor changes to the report, then voted unanimously to send it to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The report, which took three years to prepare, asks the FAA for about $50 million in aid for the decade-long program to help airport neighbors cope with jet noise.

East Valley airport neighbors were particularly disturbed that the report does not recommend a “share-the-noise” plan under which half of the departing jetliners would take off to the east over Burbank and Glendale.

Most airliners now take off to the south and then circle west and north while gaining altitude.

Pilots prefer southerly takeoffs for safety reasons, and the authority maintains that it is powerless to order pilots to take off in a particular direction.

Airport neighbors say that soundproofing homes would make them prisoners in their dwellings and would cause air-conditioning bills to skyrocket.

Residents also are not enthusiastic about the report’s suggestion that compensation be given to those who sign agreements preventing them from suing the authority in the future over noise.

The report also suggests that 54 houses just south of the airport might be bulldozed because they are in a neighborhood where noise will continue to be too great to live with.