Transportation Unit Allots $10 Million for City Roads

Street improvements throughout Orange County will be funded by $10.25 million allotted this week by the Orange County Transportation Commission.

In all, the commission will distribute money for 49 road projects in cities throughout the county. About $6 million comes from the Federal Aid-Urban program, and about $4.2 million is from the Orange County Unified Transportation Trust fund.

The projects were chosen in June from a list of 108. Applicants included all but two of Orange County’s 27 cities. Criteria included traffic volume on the road and the reasonableness of the project’s cost estimate.

“Every city in Orange County that applied for funds received funding for at least one project,” commission staff member Lisa Mills said.

The cities with the biggest take this time around are: Anaheim, $1.33 million; Orange, $1.08 million, and Santa Ana, $1.01 million.

“We’re very pleased with the assistance we’ve gotten,” said William C. Winter, city manager of Fullerton, which will receive $944,000. “If not for these outside funds, we’d have a very difficult time doing these street projects.”

Kenneth C. Frank, Laguna Beach’s city manager, said he was somewhat disappointed that the city would receive only about a 10th, or $25,000, of the money it had sought. “Nonetheless,” he said, “every little bit helps.”

But the money does come with several strings attached, including the warning that about a dozen of the cities must reconcile differences in their road plans with the county’s master plan or put future funding at risk. The cities must also match the grants with money of their own, and must begin work on the projects within a year.

Laguna Beach was singled out at Monday’s commission meeting as having a road plan inconsistent with the county’s master plan. For months, the city has been at odds with the state Department of Transportation and the commission over improvements to Laguna Canyon Road, and commission staff members initially had recommended rejecting Laguna Beach’s application.

But the money was approved when Frank told commissioners at the meeting that the City Council had agreed to the county’s demand to designate Laguna Canyon Road as a four-lane, divided highway. That is a designation only, and does not mean the road will actually be improved.

Mills also said that singling out Laguna Beach was unfair when “there are a number of inconsistencies” between the county’s master plan and those of various other cities.

“That’s been my concern for a long time,” Frank said Tuesday. “Why are (the commissioners) picking on us?”

The commission allocates the federal funds every five years and the county money, which is interest from a capital reserve fund, every year.

San Clemente and Seal Beach are the only two cities in the county that didn’t apply for the road reconstruction funds this year.

Bob Nelson, Seal Beach’s city manager, said his city didn’t apply because only a limited number of its streets were eligible and because “in this year’s budget, we didn’t have the necessary matching funds.”

COUNTY ROAD IMPROVEMENTS FUNDED

City or Jurisdiction Project Location FEDERAL AID-URBAN (FAU) PROGRAM Anaheim Brookhurst (Crescent to Lincoln) Anaheim Brookhurst (Lincoln to Orange) Anaheim Brookhurst (N. city limit to La Palma) Anaheim Raymond (Chapman to SR-91) County El Toro (Jeronimo to Trabuco) County Katella (W. of Magnolia to E. of Jean) County Muirlands (La Paz to Olympus) County Moulton (Lake Forest to El Pacifico) Fountain Valley Brookhurst (Talbert to Warner) Fullerton Brea (Harbor to Bastanchury) Fullerton State College (Chapman to Yorba Linda) Newport Beach Coast Hwy (MacArthur to Bayside) Orange Katella (Santa Ana River to Wanda) Placentia Placentia (Orangethorpe to Chapman) Santa Ana 17th (Santa Ana River to Bristol) Westminster Westminster (Magnolia to Busharo) ORANGE COUNTY UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION TRUST (OCUTT) PROGRAM Brea Lambert (west city limit to N. Orange) Buena Park Malvern (Dale to east city limit) Costa Mesa Baker (Fairview to Bear) County Paseo de Valencia (El Toro to Calle de la Plata) County Paseo de Valencia (Los Alisos to Stockport) County Paseo de Valencia (Stockport to Alicia) County Valencia (Lambert to Olinda Dump gate) County Villa Park (Loma Vista to Lemon) Cypress Valley View (Lincoln to Orange) Cypress Valley View (Orange to Ball) Fountain Valley Warner (Newhope to Santa Ana River) Garden Grove Chapman (Euclid to Ninth) Huntington Beach Garfield (Newland to Magnolia) Huntington Beach Warner (Edwards to Gothard) Huntington Beach Warner (Newland to Magnolia) Irvine Alton (Morgan to Toledo) La Habra Lambert (Beach to Idaho) La Palma Moody (Orangethorpe to Sharon) La Palma Orangethorpe (Moody to Coyote Creek) Laguna Beach Catalina (1500-2100 blocks) Los Alamitos Ball (Coyote Creek to Bloomfield) Mission Viejo Marguerite Parkway (Trabuco to Alicia) Mission Viejo Trabuco Road (city limit to La Vina) San Juan Capistrano Camino Capistrano (south city limit to San Juan Creek) Santa Ana Bristol (17th to Memory) Santa Ana Fairview (17th to Trask) Stanton Katella (Magnolia to west city limit) Stanton Western (at Cerritos) Stanton Western (at Katella) Tustin Main (SR-55 to Pacific) Villa Park Santiago (Lemon to Sycamore) Westminster Intersection of Garden Grove and Bolsa Chica Yorba Linda Yorba Linda (Ohio to Palm)

City or Cost Jurisdiction (thousands) FEDERAL AID-URBAN (FAU) PROGRAM Anaheim $267.6 Anaheim 446.9 Anaheim 59.6 Anaheim 552.0 County 241.6 County 249.8 County 70.2 County 88.4 Fountain Valley 372.5 Fullerton 435.3 Fullerton 509.2 Newport Beach 534.7 Orange 1,079.1 Placentia 406.3 Santa Ana 449.6 Westminster 224.2 ORANGE COUNTY UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION TRUST (OCUTT) PROGRAM Brea 408.0 Buena Park 120.7 Costa Mesa 483.0 County 49.1 County 57.1 County 47.3 County 48.3 County 49.1 Cypress 115.0 Cypress 93.0 Fountain Valley 170.3 Garden Grove 364.0 Huntington Beach 111.3 Huntington Beach 163.0 Huntington Beach 90.6 Irvine 106.1 La Habra 110.7 La Palma 270.0 La Palma 58.8 Laguna Beach 24.8 Los Alamitos 48.4 Mission Viejo 41.6 Mission Viejo 14.2 San Juan Capistrano 148.2 Santa Ana 330.0 Santa Ana 229.9 Stanton 6.1 Stanton 42.0 Stanton 42.0 Tustin 112.7 Villa Park 72.7 Westminster 100.7 Yorba Linda 132.8

Source: Orange County Transportation Commission