Laguna Council Opposes Freeway, but Project Finds Support in Irvine, Newport

All five members of the Laguna Beach City Council testified against the proposed San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor on Tuesday, complaining that it would ruin scenic terrain and bring too much development and pollution to their area.

The testimony came during a public hearing before the Orange County Planning Commission, which is considering whether an environmental impact report on the project is adequate. The commission is expected to make a ruling Sept. 27. Before construction can begin, however, the road plan must also be approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency and the state and federal governments.

Despite opposition from Laguna Beach, city officials from Newport Beach and Irvine testified Tuesday in favor of the proposed highway. A spokesman from Irvine, however, said the city would prefer that the highway be limited to six lanes, rather than the maximum of 10 traveling lanes that are being considered.

Asked whether Laguna Beach would accept a smaller highway, Mayor Dan Kenney said: “If we had our druthers, we would not have anything at all. You are looking at one of the last vast open spaces in Orange County.”

But Evelyn R. Hart, mayor pro tem in Newport Beach, said the City Council there has unanimously supported the full project because it is needed to relieve serious traffic congestion.

“There is no way we would be able to function” without it, she said. “It is vital to us.”

The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor would connect Costa Mesa with San Juan Capistrano and parallel the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways. The San Joaquin Hills corridor, first proposed in 1974, could be completed by late 1992 or early 1993.

The project, under consideration for the state’s first toll road, is expected to cost about $465 million, an expense that would be shared by the state and federal governments as well as nearby developers.

County planners told the commission Tuesday that they have not decided on the placement of all the highway interchanges, the precise course of the highway in some sections, or the number of lanes throughout the project. The Planning Commission is expected to make recommendations on those issues at the Sept. 27 meeting.

In a presentation Tuesday, county officials said the highway is now expected to include at least eight lanes--four in each direction--and up to 10 lanes in some busy sections. It would also have two lanes for “high-occupancy vehicles,” such as buses and car-pooling motorists, and, in some steep places, another “climbing lane.”

Thomas Moody, chairman of the Planning Commission, asked the county staff to analyze the impact on traffic if the project were scaled back to three lanes in each direction.

The Laguna Beach council members complained that, with on- and off-ramps, the highway would be 17 lanes wide in parts of their city. They also said the environmental impact report, which was released in June, did not adequately analyze the impact on the city of development that would probably be generated by a highway.

Some Laguna Beach residents, however, disagreed with their city officials.

“Not all members of Laguna Beach feel the same way about the corridor as our council members,” said John Heft, an 18-year resident of the city. “You only have to see the traffic on Coast Highway to know that something has to be done.”