Airport transit center still in limbo

BURBANK — The future of close to $1 million in federal grants given to the city in 2004-05 is uncertain as plans for a Burbank Transit Center near the Bob Hope Airport remain dormant.

Rep. Brad Sherman, who represents Burbank, secured the funding as part of a transit package that the House Appropriations Committee approved in 2004 and a separate sum contained in a transportation funding bill in 2005, officials from Sherman's office said.

The funds were intended for a project that would put a station near the Bob Hope Airport, which would join the regional bus, shuttle service, Metrolink commuter train and Amtrak services, officials said.

But years later, the particulars of the project are keeping it from getting underway.

"Since then, [Burbank officials] have run into some issues that have delayed the project, trying to determine which site to put the project on," Sherman said. "But they've assured me that the project will go forward."

While a transit center would be a great way to encourage alternative transportation to and from the airport, complications have arisen over where the project would be built, Burbank City Manager Mary Alvord said.

And conversations between city and airport officials stalled when it became apparent that using airport-owned property would require reopening the development agreement, she said. The development agreement between the city and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority was set in place in January 2005 to govern airport expansion.

"We're not all that hopeful that it's going to happen, so we're kind of thinking outside the box," she said.

Thinking outside the box has led officials to consider teaming up with private businesses to find alternate locations for the project, she said.

The deadline for coming up with a comprehensive plan for the funds has already come and gone, but Sherman received an extension to September 2008 from the House Appropriations Committee.

Burbank City Councilman Dave Golonski underscored at Tuesday's council meeting the importance of putting the funds to use, in light of the deadline extension.

"It doesn't seem we've made much headway," he said.

"And I'd hate to see that federal funding go away … because I believe that a transit center would be a benefit to the airport and the entire community."

Ultimately, the future of the project depends on whether Burbank officials consider it a priority, Sherman said.

"There are a variety of transportation projects in Burbank, small, medium-sized and large," he said.

"And I defer to the Burbank City Council as how to prioritize those. Obviously, getting the I-5 [Golden State] freeway an extra lane is a bigger deal — that is mostly a state decision and should go forward in the years to come — and [a transit center] was a good medium-sized project to work on."