Showdown over Foothill South TR in Orange County Calif

The long running dispute over completing the CA241 Foothill Toll Road with the 26km (16 mile) Foothill South extension goes to the California Coastal Commission Wednesday Feb 6.

A small portion of the Transportation Corridors Agencies tollroad where it meets I-5 comes within the jurisdiction of the Commission because it is within a coastal zone.

The $900m 3+3 lane road has been through a protracted alternatives analysis, public outreach and environmental impact studies and has the support o local jurisdictions and all its needed federal and state permits except Coastal Commission approval.

Local sentiment is in favor of the road as an alternative to the I-5 through the county and for more direct connectivity to the eastern half of the county.

Gov Schwarzenegger supports the project.

Funding is not a problem.

However environmentalist activists have made stopping the road a cause celebre, and found support from the staff of the coastal commission. Late last year the staff produced a long report recommending denial of a permit which reads like an extended diatribe from Greenpeace or Earth First.

But the funniest claim comes from a surfing group which says the road will ruin the surf waves off the beach. A more widespread complaint is that the road will spoil a small park, even though the land of the 'park' is on temporary lease from the US Marine Corps since it is located within the boundaries of Camp Pendleton.

TCA fights back

TCA has been fighting back with a campaign in favor of their road based on their website http://www.thetollroads.com

They say of the coastal commission's staff report: "Our review of the Staff Report has discovered factual errors, misrepresentations, distortions, baseless conclusions, and egregiously misleading statements in such numbers and of such extraordinary proportions as to require our response to be stated with an unusual degree of candor. The staff’s analysis is further undermined by reliance on zealous non-staff opponents for information. In addition, staff has cited faulty science and weak engineering studies that the preparers have acknowledged are flawed."

Here is a link to the Coastal Commission staff report (264 pages):

http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2008/2/W8b-2-2008.pdf

The executive summary of the TCA's response to the report is well worth reading in full:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/responseToCC.pdf

Also a truth sheet they have published:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/TCATheTruth.pdf

TCA have spent over $20m on the planning and permitting process for the road. They have also offered to donate tens of millions of dollars to park improvements and permanent acquisition of parkland. The opponents seem interested only in stopping the road.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-02-05