The long-running feud over a proposed expansion of the Burbank Airport returned to the courts for settlement after the city of Burbank withdrew from mediated talks with airport authorities Aug. 29.

Burbank Mayor Bob Kramer said he pulled out of the talks because the Airport Authority and airline representatives refused all of the city’s proposals for curbs on noise and a curfew for night flights.

“We met face to face with the airlines and they refused restrictions on flight time and noise restrictions,” said Kramer, who initiated talks with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority when he took over as mayor in May. “It was then that we knew there was no need to go on with this.”

Burbank proposed a ban on takeoffs and landings between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. It also wanted assurances that the airport expansion would not result in more citizens being affected by airplane noise.

Airport Authority officials said they could not guarantee specific flight curfews because federal authorities and airlines hold part of the decision-making power over any such curfews, said Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill.

Also, the city’s demand for a guarantee of no noise increases is unreasonable because the airport must keep up with growing demand for air travel and freight, he added.

“The Authority didn’t blanket-reject their proposals,” Gill said. “There were aspects to what the city wanted that were beyond the authority’s ability to grant.”

He said the authority would have liked to continue the talks.

Dana Curtis Peterson, a Stanford University law school lecturer and the mediator hired for the talks, said Burbank was to blame for the breakdown in talks.

In a letter to the mediation parties, she said that the city imposed an unreasonable deadline for results to be reached, and Burbank representatives “withdrew before they could discover the solutions that are available.”

Kramer called Peterson’s assessment “very unprofessional” and “ridiculous.”

“She had done very little to come up with good proposals,” said Kramer. “I would be happy to meet more with the Airport Authority, but we don’t need her.”

Burbank and the Airport Authority say the next likely step will be in the courts. On Oct. 24, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge is slated to rule on whether Burbank can stop the Authority from acquiring land for the proposed airport expansion.