Crucial toll road meeting Wednesday

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer
State official endorses highway; environmental groups to bus in opponents | Monday, February 4, 2008 10:43 PM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY -- Proponents and opponents are gearing up for what promises to be a jampacked, stormy marathon of a meeting Wednesday to decide the fate of a controversial toll road a government agency wants to lay across a popular North County state park.

Environmental groups opposing the project say they have rented 10 buses for people who agree with their side to attend the potentially pivotal Wednesday meeting of the California Coastal Commission at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Representatives of the Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club said Monday that they plan to bring in busloads of people from Oceanside, Ocean Beach and San Clemente.

"We're trying to get people who care about the coast and care about our state parks to come to the meeting," said Mark Rauscher, assistant environmental director of the Surfrider Foundation in San Clemente and an Oceanside resident, in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, the Orange County agency proposing to build the toll road -- Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency -- says it is spreading word of the meeting among proponents and expects several hundred supporters to turn out.

As many as 2,000 people are expected to attend, which would shatter attendance records for the Coastal Commission.

"Once this meeting starts, commissioners had better get comfortable," Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, said in a statement. "They won't be going anywhere for a while."

Late last week, another state official -- Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman -- weighed in on the proposed 16-mile, $875 million extension of Highway 241 across southern Orange County and the northwestern sliver of North San Diego County.

In urging the Coastal Commission to support the project, Chrisman said in a three-page letter dated Friday that the road would not force the closure of the park's San Mateo Campground.

"The current popular camping facilities are actually closer to Interstate 5 than the San Mateo Campground is to the 241 project," he wrote. "And, given the strong measures adopted by the Transportation Corridor Agencies to minimize noise impacts, we believe the campground will remain enjoyable, accessible and open."

Earlier, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote a letter urging the six-lane highway be approved; Treasurer Bill Lockyer asked that it be rejected.

Opponents have been busy posting more than 500 videos on YouTube and the transportation agency has been compiling a list of more than 9,000 who favor the project.

One of the latter is an Oceanside commuter, according to a statement by the agency.

"Approving the extension of the 241 is an environmentally smart decision," the agency quoted Jeff Nadler of Oceanside as saying in a recent meeting with agency officials. "As a driver of I-5 daily, my commute time from my home in Oceanside to work in Orange County and back would be cut by 50 percent each way."

Foothill/Eastern is trying to build that six-lane highway to complete the final leg of a 67-mile Orange County toll road system. The missing link is the 16-mile southern section of an inland toll road, Highway 241 that runs south from Highway 91, near the Orange-Riverside county line.

The agency wants to tie the toll road into Interstate 5 at the San Diego-Orange county line.

While the extension is, in essence, an Orange County highway, Foothill/Eastern is seeking to pave the last four miles of it in San Diego County because it doesn't want to go through pricey San Clemente neighborhoods.

But diverting the road to the south means going across San Onofre State Beach, the fifth-most popular of California's 278 state parks. And park visitors have suggested that the road would destroy the camping experience at San Mateo Campground, eventually forcing its closure.

A Coastal Commission staff report concluded that the road also would harm endangered wildlife and potentially disrupt the flow of cobbles down San Mateo Creek that are the source of nearby Trestles' world-class surfing waves.

"Surfers are afraid that a road is going to pollute the ocean and possibly change the waves there," said Stefanie Sekich, Save Trestles campaign coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation. "You're basically looking at building a brand-spanking-new road through an undeveloped watershed."

Foothill/Eastern proponents counter, however, that extensive measures are planned to protect wildlife and the surfing experience, and to filter the rain water running off the highway.

But Sekich said that is not good enough.

"Only God could take out every single tidbit of pollution that is going to wind up in San Mateo Creek," she said.

The Coastal Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday and run all day at Wyland Hall on the fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.

-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.

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Warner: wrote on Feb 5, 2008 4:31 AM: The toll road may be of value - I don't know - I don't live anywhere near there. However, I can tell you something that would be of great value to the residents of San Diego, Riverside, and Las Angles Counties. A Sprinter type train that runs from the junction of I-10 and I-60 on I-15 north of Corona, CA to the train terminal in San Diego. If done right it could be accomplished at no cost to the taxpayer. Contracts could be let to bidders for the ownership, and operation, under strict scrutiny by an organization of local governments involved, of various sections of the rails. Train station in the various sections would have ample parking, with good security, to meet the needs of the public in that local. The various owners could be allowed to pay for it by stocks, loans, etc. In that manner the public could get in at the start and make a profit. some of this proposal may be illegal or impossible; however, it is an idea and would be of great benefit for years to come. But, the very first step would be to start enforcing the speed limits to cut down on bumper to bumper, and high speed, hydrocarbon emissions. In the doing of the latter, we would be improving our quality of life and extending our life expectancy, etc.

Save a few bucks wrote on Feb 5, 2008 6:26 AM:No matter what the people want or what is good for the wildlife as well, the power brokers will push this road through the Coastal Commission. Recently, the Commission has given a great deal of thought to their decisions. Hopefully, this will be one of them. And I find it shocking that they want to ruin our State Park and wildlife corridors just so they will save a few bucks on pricey San Clemente real estate. It is shocking indeed, and more should be made of the fact that they want to save money no matter the cost to all of us.

Dominion wrote on Feb 5, 2008 6:43 AM:Get a life, surfers, and a job, for that matter. Stop preventing progress for hard working folks instead of whining about far fetched scenarios of your waves changing.

Oh brother! wrote on Feb 5, 2008 9:37 AM:Did anyone see the ad yesterday showing how huge the toll road would be and how it literally destroys habitat and the camping areas? It's just horrible. For those of you who support, get a job closer to home or carpool. Your needs should not eclipse the publics' right to a park and habitat!

Highway to Hell wrote on Feb 5, 2008 9:39 AM:The last toll-road OC built is totally bankrupt, no one uses it, and guess who's paying for it? The tax payers!

We need more public transportation in So Cal, not more asphalt. I mean that's why people move to California - for our beauty, not our roads!

It's so hilarious that people think that road represents progress! Yeah right, more overpriced cookie cutter homes will be built, and then our fed govt. will bail the builders out too! That road is a complete disaster for OC.

It's an OC Road wrote on Feb 5, 2008 10:28 AM:Build it in OC. Grabbing San Diego parkland is theft, just as sure as taking a home in San Clemente without paying for it would be. If the road doesn't make sense when they have to pay the real cost o it (eminent domain on houses in OC, and the associated political trouble), then the people of OC don't want/need it bad enough.

HANDS OF MY LAND ORANGE COUNTY!!!

Uli wrote on Feb 5, 2008 10:44 AM:change is good, all you left wing surfers and enviro-nazis. you scream about change being needed to change the politicians in office now,but don't change any where else. progress is going to happen. why don't you move to mexico, then you won't have to worry about freeways being built or progress occuring.

KRIS wrote on Feb 5, 2008 11:18 AM:99% of the populace cares NOTHING about the so-called "habitat", "park land" or surfers and their silly addiction to their brand of entertainment. Let's serve the vast majority in this matter, not some tiny, blubbering, whining minority who are only concerned with their selfish little selves. But, no matter, the toll road is a done deal. All the yak yak will have no effect anyway.

Road Hog wrote on Feb 5, 2008 11:31 AM:Dominion is a little harsh. Maybe he can't stand up on board? Or Franky Avalon stole his girlfriend's heart? Or maybe he sat in traffic too long and over-heated? Calm down friends. The road rage should not start until you get on the freeway.

JP wrote on Feb 5, 2008 12:12 PM:There is no need to move to Mexico Uli because Mexico has come to California. The only decent road in Mexico is, that's right, a toll road. This toll road is a taxpayer scam and should not be tolerated. It is destroying a state park that Ronald Reagan wanted preserved forever. No tax dollars for tolls!

Hey Road Hog wrote on Feb 5, 2008 12:16 PM:We need to calm down? your buddies(surfers ...)need to calm down and stop trying to prevent the future from happening. why do you not tell them to calm down and stop complaining?

to Hwy to Hell wrote on Feb 5, 2008 12:39 PM:I do not know which toll road you are referring to, since I use the 73 toll road daily, and occassionally I use the 241 to Riverside, which I might add sometimes takes 30 mins to travel the last mile because of all the traffic going to Riverside via that route. And to Oh Brother, some of us would love to have a job closer to home, but do you realize that there is less commute time to OC then there is to areas of San Diego County? And that the majority of traffic encountered on the I-5 Corridor is from people who do not live in San Diego County, they are only passing through to go to Mexico for every 3 day weekend!

Dominion wrote on Feb 5, 2008 12:48 PM:Affecting only 5 percent of the state park EAST of I-5 will not "destroy" the state park. Stop telling lies about the impact of the road!

Road Hog wrote on Feb 5, 2008 12:56 PM:I guess I can understand why they (surfers, park users, Californians, etc.) are screaming more than I understand the pro-road rants. After all - they are going to be run over. Paved by progress. Steam rolled out of your way. I would scream too. So I cut them some slack. It would be nice if everyone calmed down and stopped snipping like children in the back seat on a long trip. It would also be nice if the drivers knew where they were going and when to stop before they go over the cliff - but I won't hold my breath. Progress does have a point of diminishing returns and this road seems to reach that mark in my estimation.

The road is needed wrote on Feb 5, 2008 3:41 PM:the environuts are loading the buses with homeless etc etc.

Roberto1 wrote on Feb 5, 2008 4:06 PM:We need freeways, not payways...we pay gasoline taxes to build and maintain highways and roads. Quit subsidizing mass transit, robbing road dollars to balance the budget etc...make the highways free or drop the gas tax.

Panick attack wrote on Feb 5, 2008 4:07 PM:Gosh! Is someone here having a temper tantrum because the big bad Coastal Commission is gonna take away your road? Name calling, exaggeration, stereotyping. Just plain ugly and does nothing to sway opinion in your favor. Chill please.

toll roads are wrong wrote on Feb 5, 2008 9:08 PM:"I firmly believe one of the greatest legacies we can leave to future generations is the heritage of our land. This expanse of acreage, San Onofre Bluffs State Beach, now has it's future guaranteed as an official state park."

-Governor Ronald Reagan, in establishing the State Park at San Onofre, April 3, 1971

Yuck! wrote on Feb 6, 2008 8:36 AM:Thank goodness this proposed road doesn't lead to a tribal casino, there would be no chance to stop this boondoggle!

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