FULLERTON : City to Join Talks on Monorail Plan

Fullerton has joined the list of cities interested in a proposed monorail system that would link major shopping, entertainment and business centers in the county.

City officials will join others from Santa Ana, Orange, Irvine, Costa Mesa and Anaheim at a meeting next month to discuss the monorail, Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin said.

“I would say (Fullerton) definitely should be one of the northern terminals” of the monorail line, Catlin said. “Fullerton is very much a hub city in North County.”

As now envisioned, the backbone of the system would be a single-line, raised monorail capable of carrying cars about 60 m.p.h. along a route from Irvine through Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Orange, ending in Anaheim. Lower-speed monorails would branch off the main line to ferry passengers to locations east and west.

The network would link John Wayne Airport and the sprawling Irvine Spectrum office and industrial complex to sites including South Coast Plaza, Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium, MainPlace shopping mall and the Santa Ana Civic Center.

Fullerton’s participation would take the network farther north, possibly including links with Cal State Fullerton and the city’s Amtrak depot.

Catlin said Fullerton attracts 50,000 students at five colleges and universities annually, and the train depot is the busiest between San Diego and Los Angeles.

The system, which would be the first commercially operated public monorail in the country, could be built along existing streets, requiring the purchase of little or no private property, officials have said. Catlin said that Fullerton’s leg of the system could be funded by public grants and money from private redevelopment projects.

Leaders of the other five cities agreed earlier this month to unite in pushing for the system. Officials of the cities promised to work toward issuing a joint request early next year for proposals from private firms that might be willing to build and operate the system.

Mayor Larry Agran of Irvine called Fullerton’s tentative participation “terrific.”

“It’s evidence of the readiness of cities to build a system that will relieve our dependence on the private automobile.” Agran said.