FAA Chief Should Seek Balance

Striking a balance between growth and its consequences should be at the top of Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey’s list when she comes to the San Fernando Valley next month to help settle the fight over expansion of Burbank Airport.

Garvey was invited earlier this year to help resolve the dispute between the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority and Burbank’s City Council over how big the airfield’s new terminal should be. For critics who fear the increased noise and traffic a new terminal might bring, size matters. So much so that they have waged an expensive legal fight to limit the new terminal and the flights it handles.

Every mediation effort to date has failed. Yet Burbank officials remain publicly committed to spending millions of dollars of public money every year until they get what they want. It may never happen. Burbank deserves protection. But city leaders must be reasonable about their expectations.

Garvey’s involvement should help to manage those expectations. She must be candid with Burbank and the airport authority. Her input is critical to breaking the impasse. Even more important, though, will be the willingness of the opposing sides to listen to her guidance.