Lawmaker Seeks Deal in Tollway Argument

State Sen. Joe Dunn is making a last-ditch effort to find a compromise route for the Foothill-South toll road before the Senate votes next week on a bill that would limit construction of roads in state parks.

But the Santa Ana Democrat said that the gulf between toll-road builders and environmentalists is wide, and no one is willing to yield.

About 35 toll-road opponents gathered late Thursday to demonstrate at the opening of a satellite office that Orange County’s toll-road agency set up in San Clemente.

“We do not want the toll road. It would really be bad for the whole community,” said Vi Tucker of San Clemente.

Dunn said of the opponents: “They are entrenched. . . . I am troubled by the fact that we have a perfect opportunity to reach a compromise and neither side is willing.”

As planned, the Foothill-South would cut lengthwise through San

Onofre State Beach, gobbling up much of the land and splitting the park in two. Dunn proposes a route through agricultural land at Camp Pendleton, though the route still would slice off a small portion of the park.

In exchange for keeping most of the road out of the park, Dunn is asking environmental groups not to oppose the part of the route that is outside the park. Such opposition would tie up the project in years of litigation.

If an accord can be reached, Dunn said, he would seek to have the state park exempted from the proposed law, something neither environmentalists nor the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), would be willing to do.

“We want to save that park,” said Bill Craven, state director of the Sierra Club. “The principle of preserving all state parks is more important than where to put a private toll road.”

“We didn’t work as hard as have over 30 years to get these parks just to have somebody decide to drive bulldozers through them,” Craven said.

The toll-road agency is working hard in Sacramento to kill the Hayden bill.

Kate Neiswender, a consultant to Hayden, predicted that the Senate would approve the measure as early as Monday. If passed, it would then move to the Assembly.

Lisa Telles, spokeswoman for the toll-road agency, said Thursday she could not comment on the Dunn proposal. “We haven’t been approached with what his plan is,” she said.