LOS ALAMITOS : Katella Widening Plans to Be Aired

With a number of businessmen poised to protest, city officials tonight will discuss at a public hearing the Katella street-widening project.

The 6:15 p.m. study session at the Community Center, 10911 Oak St., will provide residents the opportunity to express their views on the project and assist the council in formulating the city’s comments on a draft environmental impact report, community development analyst Bruce Barrette said.

The City Council, the Traffic Commission, county staff and a team from the Orange County Transportation Authority will present plans for Katella.

The Katella widening project is part of the “super-street” concept, adopted in 1981 to attack congestion on county freeways. It involves improvements on a 220-mile network of arterial roadways, including Katella Avenue.

Funding will come from Measure M, the half-cent transportation sales tax approved by voters in 1990.

The proposed project in Los Alamitos is located between the San Gabriel River Freeway and Midway Drive. It will involve re-striping, closing of medians, acquiring new right of way for additional lanes, construction of bus turnouts and restricting street parking.

The key issue, according to City Manager Robert C. Dunek, is acquiring rights for the proposed one-lane addition in both directions on Katella Avenue. It may be possible to make acceptable improvements without buying land, Dunek said.

At least 10 Los Alamitos businesses, mostly on the intersection of Los Alamitos Boulevard and Katella Avenue, would be affected. Most are against the project.

“This project will destroy my practice in Los Alamitos. It will also add additional traffic, noise, and significantly disrupt our quiet town,” said Michael Larkin, who has owned and operated an optometry clinic inside the Hawthorne Savings Building on the corner of Los Alamitos for the past 19 years.

Foster Hooper, a partner of the Rossmoor Car Wash, at 11031 Los Alamitos Blvd., said his business does not have “enough square footage available to forfeit any space on the Katella side.”

“If we are forced to do so, our business, as a full-service carwash, would be impossible to operate,” Hooper said.

D.D. Dunlap Cos., which owns the Rossmoor Village Square shopping center on the southwest corner of Los Alamitos Boulevard and Katella Avenue, also opposes the Katella widening project.

Cozette Dunlap, the company’s vice president, said parking spaces would be lost with the new setback requirements.

“Parking is absolutely critical to the success of our local merchants and dining establishments,” Dunlap said.

The final impact report will be submitted to the County Board of Supervisors, where action is anticipated by late November or early December, development analyst Barrette said.