O.C. Road, Park, Redevelopment Plans Are Put on Hold as Funding Is Diverted

Beyond layoffs and service cuts, Orange County’s waning bankruptcy can be measured by what won’t happen because of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron’s risky investments.

In South County, motorists have long expected the county to widen and reroute a portion of Laguna Canyon Road, a winding highway considered one of the region’s most dangerous.

But because of the bankruptcy, the county lacks the money and will delay the project--a prospect that doesn’t sit well with residents. Between 1991 and 1995, Laguna Canyon Road was the site of 644 accidents that resulted in 14 fatalities and 268 injuries, according to the California Department of Transportation.

“It’s a road that people drive at a fairly high speed with just a piece of paint on the road between them,” said Elisabeth Brown, a Laguna Canyon resident and environmentalist. “I’d really like to see that project continue.”

The delay is one part of a larger retrenchment at the county’s Environmental Management Agency, which will see more than $500 million in tax revenue diverted for bankruptcy recovery efforts over the next 20 years. That money will go to help cover the bonds issued last week, which will allow the county to pay off its creditors and prepare to emerge from bankruptcy Wednesday.

The diversion will also take its toll on flood-control programs, redevelopment plans and recreation projects.

The county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department will lose $80 million, leaving it without the money needed to complete regional parks in Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Tustin.

At the county’s redevelopment agency, work is being sharply curtailed on an ambitious revitalization effort that called for the installation of street lamps, sidewalks, gutters and sewers in 14 unincorporated areas throughout the county.

County officials said that while they understand the need for the diversion, they can’t help but feel distressed at how the bankruptcy is hitting struggling communities in the redevelopment zones.

“I feel like we . . . promised we were going to do something for these residents. We got their trust,” said Dhongchai “Bob” Pusavat, director of the Housing and Redevelopment Department. “What are we going to say to these people now?”

The revitalization effort, begun with much fanfare about seven years ago, was designed to improve the quality of life in the unincorporated areas by reducing blight.

A major part of the program involved infrastructure improvements in older neighborhoods lacking urban amenities such as sidewalks and gutters. Those streets are susceptible to flooding during the rainy season, forcing pedestrians to walk along muddy shoulders.

“The streets look a heck of a lot better. The flooding isn’t a problem anymore,” said Ray Daniels, an activist in the El Modena county island, where some improvements have already been made. “They’ve made quite a difference in the community.”

The program was supposed to last 30 years, but officials now say it will be severely cut back and some neighborhoods won’t see the improvements.

The situation at the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department appears less severe. Though the bankruptcy left the agency without the funds to develop three park sites, officials said they remain optimistic that those projects will eventually move forward.

Parks chief Robert G. Fisher said the county will need donations from the private sector and might have to reduce the scope of some projects. “We think we can overcome it through creativity and generosity,” he said.

One of the sites is the Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park, located at the edge of the Bolsa Chica wetlands and named for the former supervisor. The county has only a fraction of the money needed to fully develop the Huntington Beach park, and Fisher said he doubts that a proposed nature center could be built without private contributions.

Another unfunded project is the proposed expansion of the Talbert Nature Preserve, which would run from its existing location in the coastal bluffs of Costa Mesa to the mouth of the Santa Ana River in Newport Beach. Money is needed to restore wetlands and make other improvements for the preserve.

The Environmental Management Agency’s Transportation Department took by far the biggest hit of the diversion plan, losing $23 million a year in gas-tax revenue for the next 17 years.

Ken R. Smith, director of transportation, said the shift has forced officials to “dramatically reprioritize” projects, focusing most of the department’s resources on completion of the $45-million Antonio Parkway in South County.

The parkway would create a long-sought north-south alternative to the congested Interstate 5. The road’s completion is required before the county can embark on a plan to generate revenue by importing trash to a San Juan Capistrano landfill.

As a result, other projects lost funding and will be delayed. They include plans to improve traffic bottlenecks at the Irvine Boulevard-Red Hill Avenue intersection in Tustin, at the Tustin Avenue-Orangethorpe Avenue intersection in Placentia and on Newport Boulevard in North Tustin.

The county has less than half of the more than $22 million needed to complete the Laguna Canyon Road widening, though Smith said he hopes enough money will eventually be accumulated.

Don Harvey, head of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition, said he favors the widening because it would create a small lane for the many bicyclists who traverse the canyon.

“It’s a very popular route,” Harvey said. The project “would allow motorists to give more clearance to the bikes.”

* RELATED STORIES: A14-17