Two More Cities Cast Votes on CenterLine

Anaheim and Fullerton city councils wrestled Tuesday night over plans for a light-rail system in Orange County, putting the troubled project’s future further in doubt.

In Anaheim, City Council members voted 3 to 2 to ask transportation officials to put off action on the project pending further study, especially of technology. The council’s vote also prohibits city staff from spending any more time or money related to the project.

The two dissenters, council members Lucille Kring and Tom Tait, favored an outright rejection of the concept. Said Tait: “I don’t think light rail will ever work.”

But Mayor Tom Daly, who voted with the majority, said, “We are the biggest city in Orange County, and we need to be at the table. We should not close the door on the future.”

Fullerton’s council members, meanwhile, approved the general concept on a 4-1 vote but only on condition that their city be included in the first phase of construction. Said Mayor Jan Flory, a proponent: “We are looking at a project that will serve our population 30 to 40 years from now.”

CenterLine was conceived as a key transportation artery through the middle of the county, running 27 miles between Fullerton and Irvine, at a cost of about $1.5 billion. It was proposed as part of Measure M, a half-cent sales tax passed by county voters in 1990 that earmarked $340 million for a passenger-train system.

A portion of Measure M funds would help build the CenterLine, but the bulk of construction money would have to come from state and federal transportation programs.

Opposition to the project has been intense. On Nov. 15 the Santa Ana City Council voted against the light rail. Last week the Orange City Council, which earlier took a similar stance, called on the Orange County Transportation Authority to abandon the proposal.

City councils in Irvine and Costa Mesa have voted to support the CenterLine project, and Costa Mesa council members voted 4 to 1 Monday to support the recommended alignment.

A number of cities in the western part of the county have also expressed an interest in seeing the route turned their way. Huntington Beach and Cypress city councils, for example, have both recently voted to support light rail.

In an effort to begin building a system even without the cooperation of northern cities, OCTA has proposed a dramatically scaled-back plan, recommending that transit board members approve an 11.4-mile route connecting Irvine and Costa Mesa.

On Monday, OCTA’s board is expected to make critical decisions about the future of light rail, considering whether to go forward with an initial operating segment, stop the planning process now or put off the decision.

OCTA spokesman Bill Hodge said the agency remains optimistic about the possibility of building light rail in Orange County. He said the discussions are giving OCTA a better idea of the cities’ concerns.

“Going into this, we recognized that this was a big project,” he said, “one that would be very difficult to accomplish.”

Times correspondent Luladey B. Tadesse contributed to this report.