=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/07/02/s= tate0514EDT0029.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, July 2, 2003 (AP) Feds say Burbank airport officials must return funds (07-02) 02:14 PDT BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- The airport authority that governs the Burbank Airport was ordered to repay more than $20 million it used to buy land for a new terminal that has not yet been built. The decision was made by Marion C. Blakey, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration. Blakey was tired of the impasse over the airport's new terminal project and felt the money could be put to better use. "We've got our back against a rock and a hard place on this one," said Chris Holden, president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. "The plan we submitted to the FAA, that was our Hail Mary. The ball's rolling around in the end zone and the time's run out." Airport officials have tried to relocate the terminal but the project has been mired in litigation and political opposition. They have proposed several new plans, including building a new structure that would allow aircraft to be repaired without emitting too much noise. Commissioners had hoped that the plan, which they submitted to the FAA in May, would allow the airport to justify keeping all of the $45.6 million in federal grants that were used to buy 139 acres of land, a portion of which was designated for a new terminal. But in a letter faxed to commissioners Tuesday, Blakey said the airport's proposed uses for 55 of the 139 acres were unacceptable. She gave the authority 30 days to appraise the 55 acres and remit the value for the portion paid by the FAA. "That 55 acres was purchased with a variety of funds, some of which was FAA money," said Donn Walker, an FAA spokesman. "They have to pay back the FAA's pro rata share of that." Holden, the airport authority president, estimated the amount to be in t= he mid-$20-million range. Airport officials might have to get the money from a dwindling reserve. But that idea is opposed by some commissioners, who spent tens of millions of reserve funds on federally required security upgrades following the 2001 terrorist attacks. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP