Placentia’s rail improvement project to get $200,000 boost

Orange County’s largest transportation agency agreed Monday to pay $200,000 to help fund a rail improvement project in Placentia but rejected the cash-strapped city’s request that it actually take over the project.

Placentia asked the Orange County Transportation Authority to take the lead in the project, which began six years ago but has advanced slowly. The work -- which is expected to result in the silencing of train horns -- involves improvements to eight street crossings.

Already $6 million in debt because of an ill-fated plan to improve rail corridors in the city’s downtown, Placentia officials said they needed help preparing environmental impact reports that had proved to be overly complex and time-consuming, said Mayor Connie Underhill.

“We just don’t have the talent in the city that OCTA has on its staff for rail projects,” Underhill said.

But OCTA concluded that the project was too far along for the agency to become involved, said Joel Zlotnik, an OCTA spokesman.

“There were other issues making it too late for a change,” Zlotnik said. “And our board had no part in making decisions on right of way and track alignment.”

The project focuses on crossings at eight grade separations, where the tracks would travel on an over- or underpass. With the improvements, conductors would not have to sound train horns, which make a piercing noise that has long been a complaint in the city.

The 3 1/2 -mile zone runs from Kellogg Drive on the east to Kraemer Boulevard on the west and touches Anaheim and Yorba Linda.

Placentia’s involvement in rail projects has been costly.

During the summer, the city was told that it may owe the California Department of Transportation millions for the improper use of funds allocated to the so-called OnTrac project, which aimed to improve rail lines in the city’s quaint downtown.

OnTrac was launched in 1998 amid great fanfare. But the town failed to get the grants it hoped would fund the project, and after dipping into city coffers, selling parkland and considering eliminating its own police force, the city shelved the project.

In addition, the OnTrac project led to criminal charges against Placentia’s former city manager and public works director, both big boosters of the failed rail project.

City Administrator Bob Dominguez said an audit by Caltrans to determine how much the city may owe, if anything, had not been completed.

To save money on the grade separations, Placentia may seek to team up with neighboring Anaheim on crossings that are along city borders, Underhill said.

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david.reyes@latimes.com