Laguna Beach, Corridor Agency Coming to Crossroads

A meeting between two government agencies to discuss a road is not the stuff that normally makes for controversy.

But when the two parties are the Laguna Beach City Council and the Transportation Corridor Agencies--and the issue is the San Joaquin Hills toll road that will cut through the heart of scenic Laguna Canyon--the meeting is likely to be anything but normal.

The council and the TCA have been at odds for so long over the proposed toll road that a pre-meeting summit may have to be held to lay out the ground rules before any substantive discussions can begin.

As the only city along the proposed route that is officially opposed to the six-lane San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, Laguna Beach officials have waited months for TCA officials in charge of the project to agree to a public hearing in Laguna Beach. Finally, Councilwoman Lida Lenney announced last week, transportation agency officials would be in the city on Jan. 22.

But as with the corridor project itself, the agency’s executive director, William C. Woollett Jr., saw things differently when asked later about the proposed briefing.

“I don’t know whether that’s actually going to happen or not,” he said.

The meeting will be held eventually, he conceded, but not before he and Mayor Neil G. Fitzpatrick meet to decide exactly what will be discussed.

The dispute over when and how the meeting will take place may be minor, but it symbolizes how officials on both sides are warily eyeing each other as they begin to explore possible areas of compromise.

The tenor of the talks during the next few weeks may set the stage for the corridor board’s Feb. 14 public hearing on the tollway’s environmental impact report--a key step that will determine whether the project moves forward.

And the discussions will not be easy for either side.

The transportation agency--with the official backing of other south Orange County communities--is uncompromising in its attempt to relieve bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion on Interstate 5 by building the 15-mile toll road from Newport Beach to just south of Mission Viejo. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin late next year.

But Laguna Beach environmentalists claim that the effort to keep the tollway from cutting through Laguna Canyon is just as passionate as the recent successful campaign to block a proposed development there by the Irvine Co.

“The whole idea of preserving that (canyon) is to preserve unspoiled beauty,” newly elected Councilwoman Ann Christoph said.

Still, both sides said they are willing to listen to each other as they enter a crucial phase in the project.

If the agency agrees to provide a project status report to Laguna Beach next month, City Councilman Robert F. Gentry said it will be the first time in at least two years that the council has had a substantive report on the issue.

“I believe they are serious,” Woollett said. “I am serious. I want to hear what they say. It will be very, very valuable. But I am going to build a corridor.”

Opponents are hoping the public session gives them an opportunity to show, among other things, that the 14-year-old transportation plan is outdated.

“We will hear what they think they know,” Lenney said recently, “and we will have an opportunity to tell them what we know we know.”

Despite claims by opponents that plans have not paid enough attention to the environmentally sensitive canyon, and that alternate routes should be explored, Woollett said he wants to meet with environmentalists early next month to ease their fears.

“We have some slick ways of getting across the canyon, just beautiful. There are three options. We have a lot to show them,” Woollett said.

The city’s opposition to the toll road was low-key throughout most of this year, partly because attention focused on efforts to block the Irvine Co.’s proposed Laguna Laurel development on 2,150 acres of canyon land.

But since the completion of the agreement in October allowing the city to purchase the site, council members have not developed a cohesive political strategy over how to handle the transportation corridor. Instead, they appear to be dealing with it one step at a time.

The Laguna Laurel Advisory Committee--a group of environmentalists and officials from the Irvine Co., the city and Orange County who negotiated the land purchase--announced last week it would not take on the corridor issue.

Unlike the Laguna Laurel deal, which had room for compromise, the toll road is seen as a more divisive and complex issue.

So will Laguna Beach continue its opposition, or sue to block the toll road? Most council members answer with a simple, “I don’t know.”

And with the city facing a warning from Supervisor Thomas F. Riley that the county may withdraw its promised $10-million contribution to the Laguna Laurel purchase if the city files suit to block the toll road, officials may rely on the environmentalists to carry that challenge.

Project opponents claim the environmental impact report is flawed and incomplete, and they have called for further studies.

“We are hoping law and order will be on our side and that they cannot certify it,” said Laguna Canyon Conservancy President Carolyn Wood.

Gentry said the transportation agency bears the burden of getting talks started because it will face the heat from the public.

“The TCA is in the same position the Irvine Co. was in a year or so ago,” Gentry said, referring to the intense public pressure that helped bring the developer to the negotiating table earlier this year.

And Woollett said he favors a “win-win” compromise, but does not know yet what concessions the agency can offer.

“I don’t have any idea what they want,” he said. “I have stopped the final design on that corridor at 35%. I still have 65% to go. One of the reasons to do that was to have some options.”

But with the project well on its way, Woollett said the chances of blocking the toll road are “slim to none.”