Tollway Agency May Pay Price for Bypassing the Public

You’ve got to hand it to an agency that can, even temporarily, make political bedfellows of conservative Assemblyman Gil Ferguson and county environmentalists.

And yet, that is the magic act that the county tollway agency has pulled off, turning one of its strongest supporters in Ferguson into just another of its antagonists.

Oh, Ferguson still supports the controversial San Joaquin Hills tollway but he’s leading the charge against putting tollbooths on Newport Coast Drive, the scenic six-mile thoroughfare that now connects Coast Highway with MacArthur Boulevard.

The San Joaquin would merge with Newport Coast a couple miles south of MacArthur, and to continue north drivers would have to pay a toll. Ferguson and his constituents fear that drivers will avoid the toll and clog Coast Highway in Corona del Mar.

Ferguson says he would be satisfied if the Transportation Corridor Agency conducts public hearings and, ideally, relocates the booths. Tollway officials have said they won’t do that because the plans have always called for tolls on a part of Newport Coast Drive and that’s how the overall project was sold to bondholders.

Maybe they thought longtime friend Ferguson would go away. “There are so many people saying, ‘Gil, what the hell is 50 cents?’ It isn’t a matter of 50 cents,” Ferguson said. “They (agency officials) didn’t do what the law required or what ethics would require, even if the law didn’t require it.”

Tollway officials have been adamant about saying the plans have always shown that Newport Coast Drive eventually would be part tollway. They say residents may not have zeroed in on it because of other controversies surrounding the San Joaquin project.

Ferguson and a phalanx of Corona del Mar residents are equally insistent that the tollway agency buried the information because they knew it would add even more public controversy and make bond-selling to help finance the project more problematic.

Ironically, many of those opposing the local toll support the San Joaquin project. Further, they’re loath to suggest their actions may undercut the project, although some are openly considering suing the corridor agency to prevail.

Newport Beach Councilman Phil Sansone, another corridor supporter but who’s as angry as Ferguson about the Newport Coast Drive toll, says their opposition isn’t hurting the overall project. “I don’t see it,” he said. But when asked how and where the agency would make up for lost revenue if the Newport Coast Drive toll were scuttled, he said, “I’m not concerned about how they make up the revenue. What I’m concerned about is that they were not upfront about the revenue.” Referring to suggestions his efforts might hurt the overall project, he added, “That’s the corridor agency propaganda. The fact is they were not upfront on the issue and that’s what’s got everyone pissed off.”

Meanwhile, over in environmental circles, they’re trying not to gloat too much over Ferguson’s onslaught against his onetime soul mates. Carolyn Wood, president of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, said her opinion is that if the Newport Coast Drive toll is eliminated, “the whole concept of this has changed.” It could lead to downsizing the overall project, she said.

As for the unlikely coalitions forming--at least on paper--she said, “Of course, anything is possible. The one thing all the groups have in common is they don’t think the process is being followed properly. I know people have been talking to each other, and I’ve met a lot of people I didn’t know before.”

When I asked Ferguson on Thursday how he feels about cuddling up with the environmentalists who want to kill the entire tollway, he chuckled. “The irony hasn’t escaped me,” he said, noting that he supported and even introduced some of the legislation leading to the tollway construction, believing it crucial to relieve South County overcrowding. As a former member of a building trades association, Ferguson also has fought with and sued environmental groups.

“The irony is that I just saw a flyer that the anti-growth people put out saying what a wonderful person I am,” he said. “I’ve always been the last guy on their totem pole as to what a bad guy I am.”

So, I asked, why are you doing it? “It’s sort of like the guy who’s in the swamp with alligators up to his rear end and he turns to his friend and says, ‘Honest to God, I just came in here to drain the swamp.’ ” Ferguson contends both county officials and tollway officials haven’t been forthcoming and “I came away determined people were going to at least be heard someplace.”

A prediction? “There will be a corridor,” Ferguson said. “There will be a tollway. It will connect with the Corona del Mar Freeway. Things will get better. But I also predict the public will prevail in this (Newport Coast Drive toll). It’s too blatant for them not to.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.