Sierra Club Files Suit in Bid to Block Rt. 56

The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court on Monday to block the widening of Interstates 5 and 805 near Del Mar, the western extension of Route 56 through North City West and the construction of a massive interchange joining the freeways.

The lawsuit contends that the freeway project will do irreparable harm to coastal wetlands and Carmel Valley, and that the California Coastal Commission didn’t adequately pursue alternatives that would do less harm to the environment.

The lawsuit was not unexpected; the Sierra Club promised to pursue the matter in court after the Coastal Commission approved the project by a bare 5-4 vote last month.

The commission’s own staff had recommended against the $160-million project, saying the destruction of coastal wildlife habitat around Los Penasquitos Lagoon and in the Carmel Valley was not sufficiently offset by mitigating measures.

The project has been backed by Caltrans and the city of San Diego as necessary to relieve the I-805-I-5 bottleneck near Del Mar and to provide a link between Interstate 15 and the coast by widening 1.8 miles of Carmel Valley Road into a six-lane freeway.

But Laurens Silver, attorney for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, said the organization is asking the court to set aside the Coastal Commission permit because the commission should have approved a less environmentally damaging alternative--one that would have consumed less of the wetlands.

Furthermore, he said, the commission should have, at least, demanded more mitigation than it did to replace the 50 acres of wetlands that will be lost in the project.

“Because of uncertainties in replacing wetland habitats, the commission in the past has required that new wetlands be created by a 3-1 ratio over the ones being destroyed,” he said. “But the commission didn’t do that in this case. It’s a marked departure from the commission’s historical practice.”

A spokesman for the Coastal Commission said he could not comment on the lawsuit because his office had not yet seen it.

But Hannah Cohen, a consultant to the Mid-County Transportation Coalition that had lobbied for the highway project, called the Sierra Club’s lawsuit “frustrating” and said she hoped the city of San Diego and Caltrans would move ahead until told otherwise by the courts.

“This alignment has been approved since 1965. It’s been a frustrating and long process, but we all feel we have a very viable and defensible environmental impact report.

“I’m sorry they’re trying to put another hindrance in our way, but I believe we are on the winning end, having gotten this far with the project.”

A differing position was held by Jerry Mailhot, co-chairman of the Carmel Valley Coalition, which has fought the Route 56 plans.

“It’s encouraging for us that the Sierra Club has taken this on, because they don’t normally take on lawsuits unless they see merit in them and think there’s a chance of winning.

“We are concerned by the destruction that freeway project will cause in the Carmel Valley and the impact on the Los Penasquitos Lagoon.”

Silver said he wasn’t sure when a court hearing on the suit will be scheduled.