FEDS MISLED ON TOLL ROAD?

Feds say they were misled on toll road
By Mike Lee, from the San Diego Union Tribune

The agency trying to build a toll road through San Onofre State Beach has misled federal officials about critical elements of its proposal, the top Army Corps of Engineers official in Los Angeles said in a letter obtained yesterday.

The letter, dated Monday, came from Col. Thomas H. Magness, district commander for the corps. It was sent to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is reviewing the proposed 16-mile extension of state Route 241.
Magness said leaders of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency of Irvine have made false statements about the corps’ level of support for their chosen tollway alignment. He also accused them of mischaracterizing his agency’s stance on other options for reducing traffic congestion between southern Orange County and northern San Diego County.

“There are other practicable alternatives that would achieve the overall project purpose,” Magness said.

Toll-road leaders aren’t backing down.

“The colonel is trying to make it sound as if the proposed route is not the environmental consensus by collaborating agencies, and that is simply inaccurate and misinformed,” said Jerry Amante, mayor of Tustin and vice chairman of the transportation agency.

Magness’ statements could be pivotal in the decades-long debate over how to improve traffic in fast-growing southern Orange County. The transportation agency’s proposal for lengthening the tollway would cost an estimated $875 million.

The California Coastal Commission rejected that project in February, citing concerns about violations of the state Coastal Act and damage to the San Onofre park and other wildlife habitat.

The Army Corps of Engineers is one of the main agencies that would have to approve various environmental permits before the road could be built. The U.S. secretary of commerce is reviewing the transportation agency’s appeal of the Coastal Commission’s ruling.

A central question is whether reasonable alternatives to the current road proposal exist.

The transportation agency has studied several toll-road alignments, including variations that would avoid the state park. It also has looked at widening Interstate 5 – an expensive option because it would involve removing some homes and businesses.

Officials for the transportation agency prefer a plan to extend Route 241 from Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to Basilone Road at Interstate 5 on the northern boundary of Camp Pendleton.

“The planning process for the Project clearly established that there is no other reasonable alternative,” the transportation agency’s lawyers said in their February appeal to the Commerce Department.

Magness wrote in the Monday letter, “These assertions are false.”

He said the pathway preferred by the transportation agency “appears to be” the least environmentally damaging of the practical routes. But he stressed that the corps’ opinion is preliminary and that “at no time” has his agency ruled out at least three other possible road alignments.

Amante said it’s clear to all parties that the Army Corps of Engineers ‘ designation of the environmentally preferred route is preliminary.

“The colonel’s letter finds ways to split hairs,” Amante said.

Magness’ letter thrilled opponents of the toll-road project.

“We have said for a long time that there are viable alternatives to this project that don’t destroy the park,” said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League in Los Angeles.