Orange County toll road proposed through San Onofre park

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Thursday, December 8, 2005 11:55 PM PST ∞

SAN CLEMENTE ---- An Orange County transportation agency is recommending building a toll road through San Onofre State Beach over the objection of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

"They have selected a choice that puts six lanes of freeway through that park, essentially destroying the park's value as the last remaining open space, camping and remote wilderness area anywhere between Ventura and the Mexican border," said Dan Stearns, a state parks spokesman. "We are terribly disappointed with their choice."

Surfers at the Trestles surf area Thursday morning decried the idea of terminating a major road a stone's throw from one of Southern California's premier surfing spots. More people, more trash, more parking lots, crowded beaches and waves were some of the concerns.

The $875 million, 16.9-mile section of road proposed by the Transportation Corridor Agencies will connect California State Route 241 in Rancho Santa Margarita to Interstate 5 just south of San Clemente. That 16-mile section of toll road will complete the SR 241 Foothills Transportation Corridor, a long name for a short section of highway that parallels I-5 to the east.

Located in the most northwestern corner of San Diego County, San Onofre State Beach is a 3,000-acre area that stretches west from the beach about four miles inland. The toll road will enter San Diego County from the east and run the length of the campground, coming within 400 feet of the nearest campsite.

"The green alignment has been identified as the least environmentally damaging and the most preferred environment," said Macie Cleary-Milan, deputy director of environmental planning for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the organization charged with planning the road.

San Mateo State Campground, ranked the fifth most active among the state's 287 parks, sits within San Onofre State Beach.

"The reality is, the 161 campsites won't be disrupted," Cleary-Milan said. "The sites will stay and the public will continue to utilize them."

Cleary-Milan said noise studies show that traffic noise will be below current standards.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies is actually a pair of organizations representing the interests of more than a dozen Orange County cities.

Cleary-Milan emphasized that the state park is leased from Camp Pendleton, and that the lease permits road construction. The lease will expire in 2021, she said. The state leased the land for 50 years in 1971 from the federal government.

According to environmental studies, the chosen alignment ---- one of eight alternatives studied ---- offers the greatest promise for reducing congestion and does not condemn homes and businesses, Cleary-Milan said.

Orange County officials began planning a transportation infrastructure to handle traffic in the 1970s. SR 241 is one of two north-south highway systems on either side of I-5. SR 241 and SR 73, also known as the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, are designed to help alleviate traffic congestion on I-5 through Orange County.

However, along the way, the alignment will run through 380 acres of coastal sage scrub habitat, an environment favored by the endangered California gnatcatcher. The gnatcatcher, the thread-leaved brodiaea and the arroyo toad are among the endangered species that will be affected by construction of the road through their habitat, according to the environmental study.

The Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Marines and California Department of Transportation were among the federal and state agencies that weighed in on the selection of the road alignment.

"With all these federal agencies who are responsible for overseeing the planning, this has come up as the best alternative," Cleary-Milan said.

The selected alignment will be recommended for adoption on Jan. 12 in a public meeting of the Foothills/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency's board of directors. Elected officials from Anaheim, Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Orange and a half dozen other Orange County cities sit on that board.

The board may decide to accept the recommendation, choose another alignment or send the issue back for more study, Cleary-Milan said.

Stearns said he hoped the public would turn out in numbers sufficient to get elected board members to reject the recommendation.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.

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