LAGUNA BEACH : 2 Groups to Join Suit Opposing Toll Road

Two environmental groups engaged in a legal battle to block the proposed San Joaquin Hills tollway have agreed to join the city in a separate lawsuit opposing the Eastern tollway.

Board members of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy and Laguna Greenbelt voted over the past week to join the latest legal battle.

Leaders of the two groups say they agree with the city’s contention that the Eastern tollway would place a heavy traffic burden on already clogged Laguna Canyon Road. One branch of the 23-mile Eastern tollway would flow onto the Laguna Freeway, which turns into Laguna Canyon Road.

But a spokesman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which is charged with building three Orange County toll roads, said the corridor will actually reduce traffic on Laguna Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway.

Although the environmental groups are not expected to lend financial support, a San Francisco attorney who is handling the case said their involvement in the lawsuit exemplifies local opposition to the corridors.

“It’s an indication of the broad community sentiment in Laguna Beach and the surrounding area against the construction of these toll facilities,” attorney Mark Weinberger said. “They are representatives of the citizen activist community in the Laguna area, and the city advised me that they welcomed their participation in the action.”

Claiming that the proposed tollway’s environmental reports do not adequately address the traffic impact the Eastern corridor would have on Laguna Canyon Road, the City Council voted two weeks ago to ask the law firm of Schute, Mihaly & Weinberger to represent the city in the lawsuit against the tollway agency. The firm is also representing four environmental groups, including the conservancy and Laguna Greenbelt, in an attempt to block construction of the San Joaquin Hills tollway, which would cross Laguna Canyon.

Although the city fiercely opposes the San Joaquin Hills tollway, an agreement that allows the city to buy land in the canyon also prohibits it from taking legal action against that roadway.

Weinberger said the latest lawsuit will be filed “in the coming days.”