Board OKs Developer-Financed Study for Future Foothill Roads

The Orange County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to a developer-financed study of financing and construction of road improvements in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in southeastern Orange County.

Board Chairman Bruce Nestande said the study will cost nearly $1 million and was an example of the “tremendous cooperation between the private sector and the public sector in ensuring that roads are done as development proceeds.”

The first roads targeted for completion, perhaps as early as next year, include extending Portola Parkway from El Toro Road to Sand Canyon Avenue; extending Bake Parkway from Irvine Boulevard to Portola Parkway or extending Alton Parkway from Irvine Boulevard to Portola Parkway.

Hon Development Co., which is developing the Whiting Ranch, is scheduled to pay 21% of the cost of the studies, with the following developers picking up smaller portions of the tab: The Santa Margarita Co., 18%; the Baldwin Co., 13%; the William Lyon Co., 11%; the Irvine Co., 8%, with other development companies paying the remaining 29%.

Last May, supervisors ordered a county study of what roads will be needed in the area. The results were received in October, and in December, the board ordered that roads be built or improved in the area east of El Toro before new developments are allowed.

Developers also will be billed for nearly half the cost of the Foothill Freeway, which is planned to extend from east of Irvine south to San Juan Capistrano, as well as two other freeways planned for the county.