Countywide : Talks in the Works to End Tollway Battle

Negotiations to end the bitter legal battle that environmentalists are waging against the San Joaquin Hills tollway are underway, officials said, but how promising the talks are remained a mystery.

Questioned about talks aimed at resolving the court dispute, tollway spokesman Mike Stockstill acknowledged that negotiations have taken place but said: “I can’t talk about them any further.”

Joel Reynolds, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, also confirmed that talks have been ongoing. “They could be fruitful under certain circumstances,” he said, “but at this point there really isn’t anything to report.”

Meanwhile, U. S. District Judge Linda A. McLaughlin, who has been advised of the discussions, postponed until March 7 a hearing on the adequacy of the $1.1-billion project’s environmental impact statement.

In a terse order, McLaughlin wrote this week that neither side in the court case has adequately addressed the impact of the devastating October, 1993, fire on the Laguna Greenbelt through which the tollway is to be built.

Lawyers for the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor did mention the fire in a motion seeking to have McLaughlin modify her injunction banning construction on parts of the tollway.

McLaughlin previously permitted construction only at the north and south ends of the 15.5-mile project but not in the middle, in the area of the greenbelt. Tollway lawyers are arguing that the fire makes protection of the area no longer necessary.