SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Stonehill Red Tape Dwarfs Road Project

It will be only a short stretch of road, less than three-quarters of a mile.

But mention of the Stonehill extension among South County city officials brings eye rolls and winces. Because the 20-year-old trail of paperwork for this little project may be longer than the road itself.

“We started talking about it 20 years ago this month,” said Phillip R. Schwartze, a 12-year San Juan Capistrano councilman who was a city planner in 1970. “That’s how long this thing has been hanging around.”

The $12.4-million extension of Stonehill Drive across San Juan Creek someday will link Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano. But before anyone breaks ground, at least 21 bureaucracies from here to Washington--each with a separate board of directors--and several private land owners will have been involved.

Last week, with much fanfare, the city of San Juan Capistrano issued a statement heralding the purchase of the final right of way for the road.

“We’re finally out of the legal system,” said William Murphy, the city’s retired director of public works, who has agreed to act as a consultant until the project is done.

If the last two decades are any indication, however, Murphy may not be out of work any time soon. The story of the Stonehill extension actually dates back to 1957, when Stonehill Drive first appeared on a county map as a future traffic relief for Coast Highway and Del Obispo Street, the only other two ways to cross the creek.

Since that time, a myriad of agencies and jurisdictions have kicked the project back and forth.

With two bridges in the project’s design, it is no simple construction task. But county officials agree that the red-tape problems dwarf the engineering ones.

Today, the cities of Dana Point on the west and San Juan Capistrano on the east are both part of the plan. But that’s just the start. Because the road will span San Juan Creek, the Orange County Flood Control District gets involved, as does the Army Corps of Engineers, the California Department of Fish and Game and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Because several sewer lines parallel the creek, six water sanitation districts must grant easements. Because the roadway will go over the 102-year-old Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the Public Utilities Commission must approve.

“That was, perhaps, the biggest headache,” said Richard Hart, the county’s lead engineer on the project. “It took us 2 1/2 years to solidify an agreement with the railroad.”

Just about every other utility in the area also has a line along the creek, said Roger Hohnbaum, the county’s project manager.

“You name the utility, and they’re there,” Hohnbaum said.

And because the roadway will finally dump into the Interstate 5, Caltrans gets involved.

Each of these agencies wants to know about every wrinkle in the plan.

“Everybody wants to see final plans,” Hart said. “So, every time someone makes a change, we go back and forth again.”

But Hart is optimistic that South County one day will get its link over the creek.

“It’s kind of like when Chrysler rolls out a new line,” Hart said. “All anyone sees is the new car, not the years that went into it.”