O.C. Tollway Work Hits New Legal Roadblock

Angry and passionate protesters converged on Laguna Canyon again Wednesday to oppose construction of a tollway, and were aided when an appellate court judge temporarily ordered bulldozers to stop work in the environmentally sensitive canyon.

Amid escalating tension between demonstrators and the transportation agency that wants to build the thoroughfare, one protester chained himself to a bulldozer and another was arrested.

The commotion slowed rush-hour traffic an additional 20 minutes Wednesday morning on Laguna Canyon Road, which winds through the scenic canyon. That road and Coast Highway are currently the only two routes into the upscale seaside community.

“People are just running on emotion and adrenaline right now and sort of just making it up as they go,” said Michael Phillips, director of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy.

It was the second day of activity that began Tuesday, when U.S. District Judge Linda H. McLaughlin rejected the lawsuit that Laguna Greenbelt Inc. and other environmentalists filed against the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency and the Federal Highway Administration. The suit contended that federal environmental laws had been violated when the toll road project was approved.

Almost immediately, bulldozers began moving earth as protesters gathered to denounce what they regard as an environmental catastrophe. At issue are 4.6 miles of tollway that pierces the Laguna Greenbelt between Newport Coast Drive and El Toro Road.

Upon completion, the road will stretch 17 miles between Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano.

On Wednesday, about 40 environmentalists returned to Laguna Canyon, hoping to deter the bulldozers and enlist sympathy and support from motorists in heavy traffic that threads each day along Laguna Canyon Road.

Later, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal issued a temporary injunction that halted the bulldozers, at least for a few days while the judicial panel considers the environmentalists’ emergency move to get an injunction pending appeal of McLaughlin’s ruling.

A final ruling on the appeal of the lower court’s ruling is not expected for several months.

The injunction “is a small step, but from our perspective, it’s an essential step,” said Joel R. Reynolds, senior staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is handling the lawsuit for the environmentalists. “If the court does not issue this order, the bulldozers could destroy this area in a matter of days.”

When word of the temporary injunction reached the canyon, about two dozen demonstrators cheered wildly and ran up to the hillside where the bulldozers were perched.

“Stop them or we will! We got a restraining order!” the environmentalists shouted to police officers who were posted at the site.

During the day’s action, one activist chained himself to a bulldozer and another, Jesse Elliott, 22, was arrested for allegedly trespassing after blocking the path of a bulldozer.

Police said Elliott is a member of Alliance for Survival and was booked into Orange County Jail.

The man who chained himself to the bulldozer, Dylan Rogan, a 24-year-old Irvine resident and member of the activist Earth First group, voluntarily gave up after about 90 minutes.

“Someone needs to do it,” Rogan said. “This is destruction of fragile habitat.”

While the court order halted the construction work, at least for now, environmentalists were disheartened by destruction of trees and other habitat that had already occurred after 12 hours’ work by the bulldozers.

“I’ve dreaded this day for years,” said Laguna Beach resident Mark Sanderson. “It’s too late now. This was a pipe dream to think you could stop the gears of progress.”

Reynolds bristled at the speed with which the corridor agency sent the bulldozers to work after the district court’s decision Tuesday.

“It’s a total and complete outrage for a public agency to be acting in this fashion; for them to so quickly destroy valuable habitat in the midst of Laguna Canyon knowing that we were going to be asking for an injunction,” Reynolds said. “You expect that from private developers, not from a public agency.”

Mike Stockstill, spokesman for the tollway agency, said work began immediately because the agency is nine months behind schedule because of delays caused by the litigation.

“We have been delayed for nine months, and the public is ultimately going to pay the cost of the millions of dollars in delays caused by Mr. Reynolds and the plaintiffs in this case,” Stockstill said. “There was no legal constraint to beginning work.”

Stockstill said it was difficult to estimate how much land had been cleared by the bulldozers before the injunction was issued Wednesday.

The protest also seemed to frustrate the half-dozen officers assigned to keep the peace at the construction site.

“I would say we do have other things to do,” said police Sgt. Lance Ishmael.

Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said he worried that the protest, combined with heavy traffic along Laguna Canyon Road, would cause injury.

“Somebody is going to get hurt or killed before this is over,” Purcell said. “I don’t think one person getting killed is worth this, but emotions are running extremely high.”

But even Purcell was overtaken by emotion as he surveyed the bulldozed area. Trees that had survived the massive firestorm that roared through the area last October, blackening the hillsides from Laguna Canyon Road to Newport Coast Drive, were no longer in sight.

“Everything was going pretty smoothly until they bulldozed those 100-year-old-plus oak trees,” Purcell said. “They survived our big fire only to be plowed down by a big Cat. It got to me. It’s a shame.”

Protesters have kept constant vigil at the site since Tuesday.

While some motorists were obviously irked at having to sit in traffic--and at times drizzling rain--more seemed to support the protesters, honking and flashing thumbs-up signs as they passed by waving placards. Occasionally, angry motorists and demonstrators shouted and glared at one another.

“This is your canyon!” one woman shouted at passing motorist. “You should be out here!”

On Wednesday night, about 50 environmentalists, including some who had been at the canyon throughout the day, kept a vigil and plotted their strategy to further delay the project.

During the vigil, Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Lida Lenney applauded the activists who had kept the unorganized protest going.

“Let’s hear it for Earth First,” Lenney rallied. “They not only started (the protest), but they kept it going.”

Laguna Beach resident Michael Beanan, 45, also urged the crowd to get “civil disobedience” training in anticipation of construction resuming. “We are going to be in a situation again here, folks, where we are going to have to risk arrest.”

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Times staff writer Len Hall contributed to this report.