Plan Calls for 8-Lane Limit on Each of 2 Freeways

Orange County transportation officials on Monday unveiled a proposed agreement that would limit two new freeways in the south county to a maximum of eight lanes each until at least the year 2000 and guarantee their development as scenic highway routes.

The agreement, which will be distributed to city councils throughout Orange County over the next several weeks for their concurrence, is significant in that it could help alleviate some opposition to the San Joaquin Hills freeway, a route proposed to cut through the coastal foothills.

A number of city officials, particularly in Laguna Beach and Irvine, have balked at endorsing the freeway when present plans call for it to be as wide as 17 lanes in some locations, with no specific provisions for landscaping.

Environmentally Sensitive

The current agreement, drawn up by county Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Bruce Nestande after a series of meetings with city leaders, guarantees that both the San Joaquin Hills and the Foothill/Eastern freeways will be “environmentally sensitive” facilities containing “not more than six to eight general travel lanes in this century.”

In addition, the agreement calls for building both as “well-landscaped (limited access) scenic highways” but provides that right-of-way will be preserved in the event that it is necessary to widen the freeways at some point after the year 2000.

The purpose of the agreement, presented Monday to the Orange County Transportation Commission, is to set up an authority, to which the county and the cities along the two freeway routes would belong. The authority would be empowered to assess fees from land developers to help pay for the facilities.

Under the proposed fee program, already adopted by the county Board of Supervisors, up to 67% of the $669.2-million cost for both freeways would be paid by developers, based on the amount of traffic their new developments would generate. Indirectly, new home buyers and businessmen would be expected to pay the bulk of the developer fees.

“The memorandum is basically an agreement to agree between the county and the cities,” said Riley aide John Stevens. “This first step is one that’s important because it kind of says, yes, we all believe we’re headed in the right direction.”

Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Transportation Commission, explained: “We wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same playing field and that everyone had a good, clear understanding of what the ground rules are and what we were trying to accomplish.”

However, Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth Frank said the provision for limiting the San Joaquin Hills freeway to six to eight lanes in this century is inadequate. He will recommend to his council that they approve the agreement tonight only if the words “in this century” are removed, he said.

‘Something That’s Possible’ “That limitation, ‘in this century,’ doesn’t mean anything, because there isn’t any way in the world to have it constructed (to) more than eight lanes in this century, anyway,” he said. “That is a major change in the agreement, but it’s certainly something that’s possible to do.”

Frank said he will nonetheless recommend that the council-- which has flatly opposed both the corridor and the fee program until now--attempt to cooperate with the county.

“If we stand back and oppose it, my best guess is the freeway will go through anyway,” he said. “In the long run, I think we’d be better off working with the other agencies to get some changes than pretending it’s going to go away or that we’re going to defeat it.”

Irvine Mayor David Sills said his city favors no more than six lanes in this century, a position that could be accommodated within the scope of the agreement. The city also opposes any high-occupancy vehicle lanes along the corridor, he said. The City Council there will consider the agreement on Jan. 29.

San Juan Capistrano has tentatively scheduled it for Jan. 22, while the Board of Supervisors will act on it Jan. 23.