IRVINE : Council to Revisit Controversial Bypass Plan

The City Council will renew discussions tonight on the Newport Coast Drive bypass, a proposed route that divided residents into warring camps over its location despite avowals by council members to oppose its construction.

Faced with an estimated loss of between $1.5 million to $4 million a year in county transportation funds if the route were not approved, council members in March reluctantly selected one of three proposed bypass routes.

The route is intended to provide a toll-free bypass to the 1 1/2-mile section of Newport Coast Drive planned to become part of the San Joaquin Hills toll road.

A group of Newport Beach homeowners filed a lawsuit in September to block the placing of toll booths on Newport Coast Drive. Attorney Jim Toledano, who represents the Newport Coast Drive Defense Fund, is urging the council members to rescind their approval of the bypass route, which would link Newport Coast Drive to Bonita Canyon Road.

Although council members voted to amend the city’s general plan to include the bypass, they also sent notice to the Orange County Transportation Authority that the city would not “fund or initiate construction” of the route.

County funding for the $17.5-million route is on hold in the aftermath of the county bankruptcy, according to Mayor Michael Ward, who is trying to get county officials to eliminate the bypass from regional transportation plans.

“It’s not an immediate threat,” Ward said. “The money’s not there to build it.”

Residents of the city’s Turtle Rock community battled with UC Irvine faculty residents over the location of the route, fearing increased noise and traffic in their neighborhoods. The City Council chose a route that runs closer to the campus, rejecting a bypass that would have connected Newport Coast and Culver drives.