COUNTYWIDE : Clean-Air Rules Called a Roadblock

County officials complained Friday that the three planned tollways, the Santa Ana Freeway widening project and other local transportation improvements could face lengthy delays due to “red tape” generated by proposed clean-air regulations.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments, a regional planning agency, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District are adopting rules that would subject new transportation projects to additional public hearings and reviews to determine their conformance with regional clean air and traffic goals, said Stanley T. Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Commission.

“We don’t want to reopen environmental impact reports or go through another layer of bureaucracy on projects that are almost ready to go,” he said.

“The proposed rules are a disaster,” said Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley. “We’re looking at delays possibly as long as six months to a year.”

SCAG and AQMD officials, however, said Friday that the situation is not as bad as it may first appear.

SCAG spokeswoman Cindy Krebs said: “We have grandfathered in all transportation projects for which an environmental document has been circulated prior to March 1. I think we have alleviated many of Orange County’s concerns.”

Orange County officials disagreed.

For example, they said that the three planned tollways in South Orange County could run into problems with the new regional air quality and mobility plan because the agency building them does not want to install car-pool lanes until the tollways have been open for a few years.

While the new regulations do not require car-pool lanes, they give preference for projects that have them and require documentation explaining why they are not included.

Oftelie said he will ask the county Transportation Commission on Monday to approve a letter to SCAG outlining Orange County’s objections.

Under the new procedures contained in the regional Air Quality Management Plan, transportation officials must document how their project fits into SCAG’s so-called regional mobility plan and affects air quality, how other alternatives also would affect the air, and why car-pool lanes, mass transit or other transportation-demand management tools have not been included.

The regional traffic mobility plan includes four strategies for attaining federal clean-air standards. They include improving the balance of housing and jobs, travel demand management, better transportation systems management, and capital improvements such as new roads and rail lines.