Compton Told to Issue Rail Permits : City’s Attorneys Say Appeal Likely on Mass-Transit Project

Saying it is time for the project to go forward, a Superior Court judge ordered the city of Compton on Tuesday to begin issuing permits for the long-planned construction of a $675-million light rail system connecting Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The ruling by Judge Ricardo A. Torres, which came at the end of a contentious hourlong hearing, will probably be appealed, attorneys for Compton said.

“The (state Public Utilities Commission) is the agency with the power in the state of California to decide these issues,” attorney Barry A. Fisher said. “The judge’s ruling for the moment is on a collision course with this constitutionally mandated agency.”

In December, Compton filed a $200-million complaint with the PUC seeking to halt construction of the project, claiming that the two light rail lines, together with planned increases in freight train traffic through the city, would result in substantial congestion, pose safety problems and threaten redevelopment plans. A hearing on the complaint is scheduled for March 30.

Unresolved Issues

Compton’s objections represent one of several unresolved issues over routing and questions of sharing street space with auto traffic along the 21-mile route, although some construction contracts have been awarded.

Trains are to run within a quarter mile of Compton City Hall and a major new shopping center downtown, in effect bisecting Compton at its heart.

The city had asked the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to reroute the project away from the center of town. Although some initial work on the alternate route was done, the plan was dropped when Compton was apparently unable to come up with the $20 million it was asked to contribute to the $75-million rail segment.

Los Angeles County transportation planners filed suit against Compton in January, claiming that the city’s refusal to cooperate delayed construction of the initial route, which was scheduled to begin late last year.

‘Want to Cooperate’

“If we made any mistake, it was cooperating beyond the necessity we had to,” said Richard Richards, special counsel to the Transportation Commission. “We still want to cooperate. . . . We didn’t want to go in and bulldoze through.”

Torres, meanwhile, said he did not expect his ruling to be the final word on the controversy.

“I understand how Compton feels about this,” Torres said. “I’m satisfied it will go to the Court of Appeal and, somewhere along the line, it will be decided.”