County’s Roads Proposal Sparks Debate

The county Tuesday unveiled a preliminary plan to spend $37 million in anticipated sales tax revenue on road improvements in unincorporated areas, and brought to a boil the simmering rural groups opposed to urbanization.

The major clash of interests occurred between Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch officials over the county’s plan to spend nearly half a million dollars to extend Route 728 through the San Dieguito River Valley and create a long-sought connection between Interstates 5 and 15. The route, partially built as San Dieguito Road, bisects the posh Fairbanks Ranch community and would connect with other roads to provide the east-west link.

County public works officials stressed at the Board of Supervisors meeting that the $2.3 million allocated for design and right-of-way acquisition for Route 728 would not be spent until 1990, when a decision on the route alignment would be made. But Marvin Levine, manager of the Fairbanks Ranch Assn., charged that the project is being pushed by “pressure from self-serving interests” such as developers and owners of land the highway is scheduled to go through.

He also criticized the project as a “quick fix” for traffic congestion on Via de la Valle, which now carries the bulk of east-west traffic in mid-county, from the coast at Del Mar to Rancho Santa Fe and Escondido.

Also Tuesday, residents of Crest in East County appealed to supervisors to speed up construction of a second outlet to their community, citing dangerous conditions that could bottle up and destroy the community if an uncontrolled brush fire broke out.

Fallbrook and Valley Center leaders asked for modification of proposed projects in their communities to meet local rather than regional traffic concerns.

Supervisors--who shied away from providing a list of road and transit projects before voters in November approved a half-cent countywide sales tax increase--must submit their five-year road expenditure plans by March 10 to the San Diego Assn. of Governments. They are scheduled to vote on the final program next Tuesday.

Other unresolved problems to be decided in the coming week include the location of a bridge over Escondido Creek linking Rancho Santa Fe with the newly incorporated community of Encinitas. Three locations for the bridge were proposed by community groups and county planners--each with their opponents and proponents.

Supervisor John MacDonald proposed a compromise that would split the $3.6-million project to provide two less expensive box culvert crossings at La Bajada-Encinitas Boulevard and at either El Camino Del Norte or the proposed Route 680 crossing.

Both Routes 680 and 728 through North County have been opposed by coastal civic groups that argue they will disrupt established residential neighborhoods. The routes are supported by Rancho Santa Fe leaders, who want alternate bypass highways to ease traffic through their estate community.