Santa Ana Sues to Block Tollway Work

Citing environmental concerns, Santa Ana on Friday became the second city in two weeks to file a lawsuit aimed at blocking construction of a tollway planned for northeastern Orange County.

If built, the Eastern tollway will slice through the Santa Ana Mountains from the Riverside Freeway to the Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine.

Santa Ana’s complaint, which was filed in Orange County Superior Court, alleges, among several arguments, that the environmental impact report for the $630-million project inadequately addresses the growth-inducing nature of the tollway and the ripple effect that such growth will have on local traffic congestion.

Councilman Robert L. Richardson, Santa Ana’s representative on the county tollway agency, persuaded the council to pursue the lawsuit after the agency board approved the tollway’s environmental impact report without guaranteeing that the leg closest to Santa Ana would be built first. Up to that point, Santa Ana had backed the project.

The tollway is designed to extend southward from the Riverside Freeway near the county line and split into two legs near Irvine Lake, with the western leg intersecting the Santa Ana Freeway near Jamboree Road, and the eastern leg joining the Laguna Freeway near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

But according to Santa Ana’s lawsuit, the 23-mile corridor will “greatly hasten development and destruction of remaining undeveloped areas in the project area and beyond in the counties of San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego, and induce increases in densities over those currently planned in areas near the project.”

Two weeks ago, Laguna Beach filed a similar lawsuit that was quickly joined by two environmental groups and a Tustin homeowners organization.

Tollway agency spokeswoman Lisa Telles would not comment until the staff had a chance to review the lawsuit.

Telles said the environmental review did address growth issues. According to the project’s environmental impact report, for example, the Eastern tollway will influence the rate and location of growth, but “will not impact the total amount of development within the study area or the region overall.”

City officials said the impact report is full of similar statements, but is short on evidence.