City Battling OCTA Over Old Rail Route

A skirmish over a dusty, 100-foot-wide strip of land that literally cuts Garden Grove in half is the newest focal point in the city’s ongoing battle to improve its image.

The strip is the old Pacific Electric right of way, which runs northwest from the Garden Grove Freeway near Newhope Street to the the city limit near Katella Avenue and Dale Street. City officials say they have tried everything to get the strip’s owner, the Orange County Transportation Authority, either to sell them the barren strip or landscape it.

“We have asked them year after year to do something,” said City Manager George Tindall. “We are saying they should be responsible owners and do the responsible thing. Don’t leave it an eyesore.”

Tindall said city officials have tried to buy or lease portions of the strip and have been turned down repeatedly by the OCTA.

Stan Oftelie, OCTA chief executive officer, said the agency’s board of directors has voted to preserve the right of way for future transit projects, an unpopular prospect in Garden Grove.

“The majority view [among the county’s cities] is that it should be preserved for future transit use, providing a corridor from Santa Ana to Los Angeles,” Oftelie said.

Garden Grove Mayor Bruce Broadwater, frustrated by a recent OCTA letter proposing another study on the property, sent a letter to the agency demanding that some action be taken to spruce up the strip, particularly where it crosses major streets.

“We require all other property owners to landscape and maintain their property, so how can we hold private owners to this if we don’t hold ourselves as public agencies accountable?” Broadwater wrote.

City officials say they would like to see parks, developments or recreational facilities on portions of the right of way.