Toll Road Boards Oppose OCTA Merger Idea

Attacking their rival transportation agency as a power-hungry, empire-building bureaucracy, Orange County’s two toll road boards voted overwhelmingly Thursday against any attempts at a possible merger, fearing the loss of control over their $4-billion project.

In board meetings that normally last only minutes, the consolidation debate raged for 1 1/2 hours Thursday as most speakers took a swipe at the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The authority, which is in charge of all transportation planning, including bus service, has proposed creating a task force of members from both toll road boards and the authority that could study a merger to save taxpayer costs and avoid duplication.

One board member called it a “power grab.” Another said it amounted to nothing more than “empire building” by a competing transportation agency looking at the toll roads as a new source of revenue.

“My view of the OCTA is that it’s a giant, breathing Tyrannosaurus rex that wants to absorb everything moving in its path,” Mission Viejo Councilwoman Susan Withrow said. “I don’t think it’s the model agency everyone would have you believe.”

Withrow, a candidate for county supervisor, also added that recent attempts by the authority to purchase John Wayne Airport and the rights to develop a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station were “frightening . . . more scary than Jurassic Park.”

Overriding all concerns Thursday was the issue of local control over the three toll roads to be built in southern and eastern Orange County over the next decade. As constituted, the two toll road boards--formed a decade ago by state law--represent 15 cities and unincorporated areas of the county through which the tollways will pass.

The Orange County Transportation Authority, on the other hand, has 11 members--six of whom are from the cities, four from the county and one public member elected by the others. Toll road board members worry they won’t have any say in the tollways’ construction if the agencies are merged.

Yorba Linda Councilman Gene Wisner saved much of his criticism for Stan Oftelie, the authority’s executive director, and identified him as the chief culprit in the move to consolidate.

“Mr. Oftelie has been trying to get into [this operation] for a long time,” Wisner said, adding that Oftelie has tried to push his agenda on the tollway boards time and again over the past decade.

Oftelie declined comment Thursday on the attacks.

“I’m more interested in whether or not this makes good sense and is factually and financially beneficial to [both agencies],” he said. “I understand that other people react to it more emotionally. Right now, we don’t have enough information to go forward with a merger.”

County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, a board member on both agencies, and one of the few tollway officials to support discussions about a possible merger, urged her colleagues to at least join the dialogue, lest state lawmakers introduce legislation that would force consolidation.

“I would think we would want to be part of the process that [the authority] is proposing before it comes from legislative efforts or at the ballot box,” she said.

Some board members questioned the legality of a merger while others were worried that tolls would be collected for other transportation projects long after the toll roads were built.

When it came time to vote, the opposition to consolidation efforts split along county and city lines.

The Foothill/Eastern board, overseeing the construction of the Foothill and Eastern corridors, voted 10 to 4 to oppose any legislative efforts at consolidation.

All 10 votes came from city representatives. Three of the four minority votes came from county supervisors and the fourth from a Dana Point councilman who agreed that the issue should at least be studied.

The San Joaquin toll road board, managing the construction of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor along the coast from San Juan Capistrano to Newport Beach, voted 10 to 2 to oppose the merger. All votes opposing the merger came from the cities, and the dissenting votes came from County Supervisors Bergeson and Don Saltarelli.

Board members have not yet decided whether they will accept an offer from the authority to have some of its officials participate in a joint task force to study the matter. But they are wary that the authority has already developed a preliminary report from Dan Miller, a friend of Oftelie, that suggests consolidation could work.