Pact Assures the Final Leg of Alicia Parkway

The federal government has agreed to give up land to allow completion of a critical stretch of Alicia Parkway in South County, Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said Friday.

The written pledge was made by General Services Administration Regional Administrator Edwin W. Thomas in a letter Aug. 14, restating a 9-year-old commitment “in black and white and removing any ambiguity about the federal government’s willingness to live up to the original promise,” Cox said.

Federal cooperation was necessary to complete a missing three-quarter-mile stretch of Alicia Parkway from Pacific Drive to Aliso Creek Road, a portion of road that a developer promised to build in 1987.

The GSA has been reluctant to yield land for highway construction, partially because of plans to expand its pyramid-style Chet Holifield Building, also known as the Ziggurat, by 2 million square feet. A portion of the larger plot of land on which the Ziggurat sits would be used for completion of the Parkway.

“I think the impasse is broken and we will see an agreement quite soon,” Cox said.

Cox used his clout as a member of a House subcommittee, which approves all GSA construction projects, to threaten to block the Ziggurat expansion unless land for the parkway was provided.

“I made it clear that without cooperation on the extension of Alicia Parkway there would be no expansion,” Cox said.

Observers credited Cox with breaking the impasse.

Deputy County Counsel Edward N. Duran said: “We always knew it would happen. It just took the right person to put on the pressure.”

“Congressman Cox has performed a political miracle on this issue. . . . He was able to do something that nobody was able to do in nine years,” said Paul Christiansen, president of the Laguna Niguel Tax Assn., which filed suit against the county for its failure to complete the road.

Last week, the small but militant group and the county agreed to postpone a courtroom confrontation over Alicia Parkway. In May, the group sued the county for breach of contract in its 1987 agreement with Shapell Industries of Beverly Hills.

In exchange for county approval for the 1,232-acre Country Village development in Laguna Niguel, Shapell pledged to build the missing segment of Alicia Parkway. The 4,200 home project is now already one-third complete.

“The county has no more excuses not to start the road,” Christiansen said.

County officials say that completing the six-lane Alicia Parkway is critical in relieving traffic congestion in the Laguna Niguel area, and that there is no way to build the road without crossing federal property.

Thomas B. Mathews, executive assistant to County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, said the exact location of the right of way through federal property west of the Chet Holifield Building is the one issue that needs to be resolved.

The GSA wants the road to run along the far western edge of its property, but county officials say that because of previous construction, the road needs to go farther east.

“If some modification can be made that does not compromise the safety or efficiency of the road, then we’d sure like to know,” Mathews said.

One official involved in the negotiations said the GSA may be interested in selling the property and may not want the parcel split.

If all the details can be worked out, the land needed for the road, between six to 10 acres, will be ceded to Orange County free of charge, an action that would save the County several million dollars and speed the start of construction, Cox said.

“The county’s ability to acquire the land without capital outlay should speed things up,” Cox said.

Mathews said money for construction “is not a problem” as it is already in the budget.

Thomas could not be reached for comment.