Judge Orders S.D. to Reopen Pomerado Road : Traffic: City of Poway wins dispute over use of the shortcut popular with commuters.

In a victory for the city of Poway, a Superior Court judge Thursday ordered San Diego to reopen Pomerado Road “without further delay.”

Stephen M. Eckis, city attorney for Poway, said the ruling means that the road, which had been a popular shortcut for Poway and other inland drivers commuting to and from San Diego, should be open today.

But Leslie Girard, deputy city attorney for San Diego, said the road, which has been closed for two years, might not be ready to open for another week and that the city will decide today whether to appeal the ruling.

“My understanding is that it is basically finished, but that there are some minor things to be done,” Girard said, but added that he did not know what those things were.

Eckis said, however, that, if the reopening of the road takes more than a few days, the two cities might find themselves back in court next week.

“If the reasons for the delay are insignificant and not connected in any way to safety considerations, then we will be back in court next week to ask Judge (Jeffrey) Miller for further orders,” Eckis said.

San Diego had claimed that it had the right to close any road within its boundaries, but Poway argued that the road had significance beyond the city’s borders.

In his seven-page ruling, Miller rejected all of San Diego’s arguments, citing the street’s “regional significance” and saying that “public streets and highways belong to the people of the state” rather than any one city.

The road originally was closed in 1988 after San Diego annexed several hundred acres through which Pomerado Road runs in an effort to reconstruct the road to bring it up to city safety standards. The repairs were scheduled for completion in mid-December.

Poway conceded at the time that the road was hazardous and had “a fairly healthy” accident record, but had expected the road to be reopened once the repairs were completed.

Meanwhile, residents of Scripps Ranch, through which the Poway and other commuters would pass on their way to Interstate 15, objected to the traffic through their community.

San Diego Councilman Bruce Henderson, who represents the Scripps Ranch area, said through a spokesman that an appeal is likely.

“Absolutely. . . . It’s a public safety issue and public safety is paramount,” the spokesman said. “The area is already substantially backed up during the morning and afternoon rush hours as it is, and it would just become intolerable.”

Eckis said Poway would “strenuously oppose” any attempt by San Diego to win a stay against the judge’s order.

Eckis, however, said Miller’s ruling was “so thorough and so tight, I would not really expect his decision to be appealed.”

Poway Mayor Jan Goldsmith said the opening of Pomerado Road will not put any more traffic stress on that area than on any other part of the region.

“This whole region east of I-15, from Scripps Ranch to Poway to Rancho Bernardo, is a mess during peak hour, and we’re just taking the problems and shifting them,” Goldsmith said. “Opening Pomerado Road is just having Scripps Ranch bear its fair share.”

The San Diego City Council had voted in October to reopen the road based on a legal opinion from City Atty. John Witt. A month later, however, after receiving another opinion from Witt and Assistant City Atty. Curtis Fitzpatrick that said keeping the road closed was a defensible position, the council reversed itself.

Miller cited Witt’s original opinion in his own ruling Thursday, which said that “continued closure would be inconsistent with the city’s general plan.”

After the ruling, Witt declined to say which opinion he supported.

“Our position isn’t what’s important. What’s important is our client’s position,” Witt said. “We had indications that there was a problem with not opening the road . . . (but) we felt there are arguments that could be made on the other side, and (the City Council) determined that they would like to keep the road closed.”