Denial of Tollway Permit Advocated : Transportation: State Coastal Commission staff says its board should not allow San Joaquin project because it violates ban on new roadways through wetlands.

Citing a state ban on new highways in coastal wetlands, the California Coastal Commission staff has recommended denial of a permit needed to build the 17.5-mile, $1-billion San Joaquin Hills tollway.

“The staff is recommending denial of the coastal development permit . . . because the San Diego Creek crossings (in Irvine), with bridge piles located within the wetlands, do not represent an allowable (wetlands) use” under the state Coastal Act, states a Commission staff report released Saturday.

The report also criticizes the controversial, much-delayed project for its possible adverse impact on the habitats of the least Bell’s vireo, already listed as an endangered species, the California gnatcatcher, which is being considered for endangered species listing, and the cactus wren.

“Every time an independent group looks at the facts they rule that the environmental documentation is insufficient,” said Laguna Beach Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman, a member of Laguna Greenbelt and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, two of the four groups that have filed suit to block the building of the tollway.

“This project has a pattern of the tollway trying to take shortcuts and then being told they can’t and then going back and doing just enough to get it through,” Grossman said Saturday upon learning of the Coastal Commission’s staff recommendation. “They continue to refuse to do the job correctly and to take into account the environmental effects.”

But the staff recommendation may be only a short-lived victory for Grossman and other environmentalists long opposed to the project, construction of which is scheduled to begin early next year.

Earlier this week, tollway officials at the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency predicted that the 12-member Coastal Commission will overrule its own staff and grant the needed construction permit at the commission’s Nov. 18 meeting in Santa Monica.

Tollway agency spokesman Mike Stockstill cited several instances where the Coastal Commission board has rejected staff recommendations on highway projects that affect wetlands, and pointed to his agency’s offer to create a new marsh wetland adjoining San Diego Creek and just south of the planned tollway bridge crossing.

The debate over proper coastal uses focuses mostly on San Diego Creek, a marshy flood control channel in Irvine that empties into Upper Newport Bay near where the Corona del Mar Freeway ends at MacArthur Boulevard.

The planned tollway, already partly graded in the Aliso Viejo area, would cross the creek on bridges 35 feet tall in order to connect to the existing freeway. Corridor agency officials have calculated that the three bridges to be built over the creek to support the tollway would affect about one-third of an acre, and they have offered to offset this by creating a new 2.4-acre marsh next to Jamboree Road.

Under the state’s Coastal Preservation Act, the Coastal Commission has jurisdiction over development within a specified zone that includes wetlands and watershed areas that affect the coast. Of the tollway’s 17.5-mile length, only about two-thirds of a mile in the Irvine-Newport Beach area, and about one-half mile in another, fall within the jurisdiction of the Coastal Commission.

In documents submitted to the commission, tollway officials have argued that there is no other way for the tollway to connect to the Corona del Mar Freeway, except over San Diego Creek. They also argued that the project has been included in county and regional transportation plans for decades and that the adverse impacts are minimal.

Also, tollway officials have contended that improving coastal access is one of the goals of the Coastal Act, and the project would alleviate congestion and make it easier for people to reach the coast.

After learning of the Coastal Commission’s staff report Saturday, John C. Cox Jr., San Joaquin Hills corridor agency chairman and Newport Beach city councilman, criticized the report as the latest in a series of environmental efforts to block the corridor at any cost.

“We have covered these bases,” Cox said. “They don’t want the project, they never have. We have been through all of these issues before.”

Cox dismissed the protests regarding the construction of the bridge over the San Diego Creek, citing the Jamboree Road and MacArthur Boulevard bridges that cross the creek nearby.

“Are they saying you’re not allowed to build a road across San Diego Creek when others have already been built there?” Cox said. “Their position doesn’t make any sense to me.”

In addition, Cox said the concerns in the staff report regarding endangered species are misplaced because those issues are covered by the state Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, not the Coastal Commission.

The tollway would also cross into the Coastal Zone on a ridge about one-quarter of a mile north of Crystal Cove State Park. Years ago, Orange County officials secured the right to administer that area by having the state commission approve a Local Coastal Plan. Acting under that plan, the county has already granted the tollway agency a construction permit for that site.

Environmentalists once threatened to challenge the county’s issuance of such a permit but later backed off.

Nevertheless, the Coastal Commission staff is so concerned about the entire project that, in its report released Saturday, it recommends denial not only of the needed construction permit, but also of a required finding that the project is consistent with federal coastal management policies.

The staff cites the refusal of tollway officials to supply information about their plan to control runoff in the area, and the lack of final action and information on protection of the California gnatcatcher and cactus wren.

The report claims that while most of the tollway would be outside the Coastal Zone, its impacts extend into the zone throughout its length.

Tollway officials contend that the Coastal Commission has no authority to act on projects outside the Coastal Zone and have indicated they would take the issue to court if necessary.

Cox was confident Saturday that while the staff report was a setback, it would not prove an insurmountable roadblock.

“It’s an obstacle. We knew it was going to be an obstacle,” he said. “We expected staff would recommend against it. It’s up to the Coastal Commission to decide whether the staff recommendation is valid or not.”

The tollway in Orange County needs two other permits, from the Army Corps of Engineers and state Fish and Game officials. Those permits may be granted by the end of this year.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is expected to file a federal lawsuit challenging the project’s environmental documentation, depending on the outcome of the permit process.