241’s park route still sought

Despite the setback delivered last week by the state Coastal Commission, Orange County’s toll road agency indicated Thursday that it would not give up on a proposed toll road through San Onofre State Beach.

At a committee meeting, board member Jerry Amante acknowledged that the agency was in a “contentious fight” but said it was committed to finishing the road because it would be part of a “vital infrastructure.” The agency has spent years and tens of millions of dollars planning the Foothill South.

“We are not going to ignore our responsibilities and allow South County to be choked with traffic,” Amante said.

Some toll road opponents criticized the board for members’ remarks and apparent failure to acknowledge that their proposal was inconsistent with the state’s Coastal Act.

“What we all need them to be is open and flexible and look seriously at other alternatives,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, executive director of the State Parks Foundation. “There’s no way they can make this project consistent with the Coastal Act, and the commission told them that last week.”

If the Transportation Corridor Agencies abandoned its toll road plans, it would lead to more congestion in South County, including on major thoroughfares that are already clogged, Amante and other board members said.

“The fight’s not over,” said TCA board Chairman Lance MacLean.

Thursday marked the first time members of the agency’s board had met since the Coastal Commission denied the TCA’s plans at a raucous meeting in Del Mar. With more than 3,500 people in attendance, the meeting was the largest in the commission’s history.

Although the TCA has appealed the denial to the U.S. Department of Commerce, a federal decision might not be made for a year.

At an estimated construction cost of at least $875 million, the Foothill South would have run 16 miles from Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to Interstate 5 at Basilone Road south of San Clemente.

The highway would have cut through the northern half of San Onofre and passed over the Trestles marine estuary, a nature preserve. About 320 of the park’s 2,100 acres would have been taken for the road.

The parkland is home to several endangered species and contains an unspoiled stretch of San Mateo Creek, the 161-space San Mateo Campground and archaeological sites, such as the Juaneno Indian village of Panhe. The nearby beach is famous for two surf spots, Trestles and Old Man’s.

Thomas Martin Benson, an Oceanside attorney and Surfrider Foundation member, said he disagreed with the board’s assumptions that the toll road was vital infrastructure.

“We believe creation of this road would lead to more traffic,” he said.

Toll roads are priced so traffic stays relatively light, which provides an alternative, but only for those who can afford it, Benson said. “Look at the I-5 bottleneck now in Irvine. It’s still congested even with the 73 toll road open,” he said.

Benson also defended opponents’ boisterous behavior -- characterized as loud and unruly by TCA board member Lucille Kring -- at the Coastal Commission meeting.

She took exception to the crowd’s failure to stop booing speakers supportive of the toll road after requested to do so by the commission’s chairman.

“I thought it was telling of the character and caliber of the people there,” Kring said, adding that in contrast, “we handled ourselves in an appropriate manner.”

Benson said opponents may have been louder “because we outnumbered them.”

“There were cheers and jeers from both sides, and I know, because I videotaped the meeting,” he said. “It actually warmed my heart that all those people showed up. It was civic activism, and they were compassionate.”

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david.reyes@latimes.com