Judge Lifts Bar to Work on O.C. Tollway Stretch

A federal judge Tuesday removed the last legal obstacle to construction of a disputed stretch of a South County tollway, and transportation officials immediately dispatched bulldozers to begin work on the road.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Linda H. McLaughlin allowed the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency to start working on 4.6 miles of roadway that cuts through the environmentally sensitive Laguna Greenbelt between Newport Coast Drive and El Toro Road.

McLaughlin lifted the preliminary injunction she had issued last Sept. 7, which halted all work on that segment of the tollway while she studied a legal challenge mounted by local environmental groups.

When completed, the toll road will stretch through the coastal hills for about 17 miles between Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano.

Environmentalists matched the speed with which transportation officials dispatched the bulldozers, rushing protesters to the construction site and filing an appeal of McLaughlin’s decision immediately after the hearing at which her latest ruling was announced.

Protesters began gathering in the morning, and by evening about 100 people had lined up along Laguna Canyon Road. Many passing motorists slowed down and gave demonstrators the thumbs-up sign. Southbound traffic on the canyon road was delayed for about 45 minutes, Laguna Beach police said.

Two protesters were detained by police after they reportedly stood in the paths of oncoming bulldozers but were later released, Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said.

The environmentalists, led by Laguna Greenbelt Inc., had sued the tollway agency and the Federal Highway Administration on Jan. 22, 1993, arguing that federal highway authorities had violated federal laws protecting the environment when they approved construction of the toll road.

Tollway opponents also claimed that federal officials should have filed a supplemental environmental impact report after fires burned a large portion of the Laguna Greenbelt last October.

But McLaughlin rejected these and other challenges in a 25-page ruling that said federal officials satisfied all legal requirements by determining that the tollway would have a minimal impact on wildlife and plants found in the greenbelt.

The judge also ruled that a new federal environmental impact report was not needed after last year’s fires, because “the fires did not significantly impact the effects of the toll road on the environment.”

During the court hearing, which lasted less than 15 minutes, McLaughlin said she had acted only on the narrow challenge raised by lawyers for the environmental groups to the Federal Highway Administration’s role in approving the tollway project.

Nonetheless, Norman Grossman, a spokesman for Laguna Greenbelt, said he was disappointed that McLaughlin “failed to consider the broader issue.”

“We’re very disappointed. The judge failed to see the road’s total impact on the environment,” Grossman said. “The key to the judge’s decision today was that she made this very narrow ruling. She chose to limit herself and it’s very frustrating.”

Mike Stockstill, spokesman for the tollway agency, said that transportation officials were pleased with the ruling and that construction crews could begin grading the road in earnest as early as today. He said the nine-month ban on construction may delay the scheduled opening of the toll road.

“It’s our hope that we can still meet our scheduled opening day in early 1997,” said Stockstill. “To do that, contractors will have to make up some lost time, but we’re hopeful we can open on schedule.”

Opponents had also argued that federal highway officials, in approving the project, had failed to take into consideration the effectiveness of mitigation efforts planned by the tollway agency to assure that the greenbelt’s ecosystem would not be harmed by the toll road.

But McLaughlin said the agency’s plan to transplant coastal sage scrub and reconstruct wetland habitats and wildlife areas destroyed by the road “satisfies the (environmental) requirements” of federal law.

Still, Grossman complained that federal authorities and the tollway agency “took shortcuts and ignored what was required by federal law.”

“From the start, they have not taken into consideration all environmental factors in putting a road through this area,” Grossman said. “They are not worried one bit about the environmental impact. They’ve consistently done this on the cheap.”

Protesters at the toll road site waved placards at passing motorists that read “Pull Over the Canyon Needs You” and “Developers Go Build in Hell.”

Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Lida Lenney, one of the first protesters to arrive, swore softly as a trailer carrying the first bulldozer pulled to the edge of Laguna Canyon Road. Eventually, five bulldozers arrived and began carving up a hillside.

Some protesters began sobbing at the site of the construction equipment, while some consoled one another with hugs.

“This is heartbreaking,” said Laguna Canyon Conservancy director Michael Phillips.

Laguna Beach Planning Commissioner Jeff Powers said he believes the tollway proponents wanted to get to work quickly to “demoralize” road opponents and destroy the coastal sage scrub so that it could no longer be an issue.