County Transit Projects Signal Critical Road Ahead : Growth planning must be balanced with keeping charm

Do new roads create new development, or do they arise to serve development that already exists? This chicken-and-egg question is not merely academic in Orange County, where the intangible perception of quality of life, and the not-so-intangible concern about housing values, underlie the most basic decisions about public policy.

As our neighbors to the north wrestle with secession in the San Fernando Valley, it is always instructive to remember that the origin of this county as a political entity was a direct response to the perceived ills of Los Angeles. That was more than 100 years ago, but the perception of Orange County as a place to start fresh has continued as a motivator for new arrivals to this county for decades. As the state’s first public toll roads are coming on line early in the county’s second century, the impact of huge changes in infrastructure on what life is like is an issue squarely before the county.

Already the roads are drawing new development and literally creating new bedroom communities in South County. More than 100 residential projects are underway, with plans for thousands of new homes, with more to come. Moreover, the county’s dynamic post-recession economic engine is being fueled by the opportunities to connect residential, business and shopping centers. New homeowners who want to work and live in Orange County have the opportunities to be served by these roads.

The most controversial (and as recently reported--underutilized) is the 15-mile San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor that was finished late last year. It now makes it possible to get from the heart of the Irvine and Costa Mesa university, business and retail districts to South County in a matter of minutes. This ease of transit has been aided also by the widening of the Santa Ana Freeway. It suddenly has made the idea of new growth seem palatable after county residents suffered through a painful period of congestion while the road was widened. The Foothill Transportation Corridor will go 30 miles from the inland foothills to Interstate 5 near the San Diego County border. The Eastern Transportation Corridor is already showing its early construction in the Jamboree Road area of Irvine and Tustin. It will run 24 miles starting at the Riverside Freeway near the Riverside County line. It will split, with one leg merging with Jamboree Road in Irvine and the other connecting with Laguna Canyon into Laguna Beach.

Already, the toll roads are fueling a great deal of commercial development and have resulted in increased importance for such centers as the Irvine Spectrum and Aliso Viejo Town Center.

But whatever good tidings these roads bear, there also is the matter of what comes next. Can too much growth kill the very quality of life that has made the county special and different since it decided to go it alone as an entity last century? Many residents of South County, alarmed about the perceived threat to their environment and quality of life from new traffic and congestion, are concerned that too much building will make their place less desirable.

This question is arising against the backdrop of county politics and history. This is a county where developers, in league with politicians, have tended to pave things over first and ask questions later.

The county could get away with working that way as long as there was still plenty of room to grow. But today’s new toll roads and the new development associated with them suggest the need for careful planning. This is potentially an exciting time, but it will be important also to proceed with a healthy respect for the environment and for maintaining the quality of life that has made the place so attractive in the past.