Light Rail Plan Stalled

One sign that Orange County may not be ready for light rail comes from those who have already given it much consideration: the eight members of a citizen’s advisory committee, who were unable to take a stand on the system despite a year of meetings.

“We ended up so split that . . . we couldn’t make a recommendation, pro or con,” said Leonard Lahtinen, who has served on transportation committees since the early 1980s. “I think that light rail is probably the most controversial transportation issue that we’ve had in Orange County.”

Lahtinen and his fellow committee members last week told Orange County Transportation Authority officials that more time is needed to answer questions about the proposed 27-mile system that would run between Fullerton and Irvine and serve an estimated 60,000 riders daily.

Their concern is far from isolated. From city council members to business people to transit board members themselves, many county leaders say they still don’t have all the facts needed to make a choice, even after the release of thousands of pages of environmental review and several months of public comment.

The $1.5-billion CenterLine project has been questioned by such influential groups as the Orange County Taxpayers Assn., a citizens watchdog agency that has called for more time to study the issue. The group said it will oppose the rail plan if transit officials go forward with their scheduled Dec. 13 vote on the issue.

With a little more than a month to go before the vote, chaos surrounds the project’s fate, stirred up in part by angry residents who live near the suggested path and have vowed to fight the system long before the first track is laid.

The upcoming vote, which could release $30 million for the initial design of the system, isn’t even the final go-ahead. If approved, the system would still face 18 more months of environmental review while officials work to secure the hundreds of millions of more dollars it will take to build. If all goes smoothly, construction could begin late next year.

Still, with the clock ticking and opposition mounting, some say any decision in December may be difficult to make.

Several transit board members still haven’t made up their minds, in part citing continued concerns about how the costly system will be funded once it is up and running and worries that the street-level tracks will snarl city streets.

“We’ve got to be financially sound and we have to be able to get our employees to work,” said Cynthia Coad, an Orange County supervisor who sits on the transit board. “Quite a few people, including myself, are still undecided.”

Transportation authority spokesman Dave Simpson said agency officials feel that many of the board’s concerns will be addressed before the vote.

“We are still in the middle of a process,” he said. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 22.

This week’s release of a suggested route did little to silence concerns. The suggested route--which cuts through the center of the county on both elevated and ground-level tracks--was winnowed by transit staff from three alternatives after more than a year of study and a slew of public comments.

Any of the six cities through which the route runs could block their portion of the project by a vote of their city councils. All are expected to vote on the project before the Dec. 13 transit board vote.

Fullerton and Irvine officials seem to have had many of their concerns addressed and are likely to support the project. Officials granted Fullerton their preferred route on elevated tracks down Harbor Boulevard, the city’s main thoroughfare.

After securing its own concessions, Irvine voted to devote $120 million intended for a monorail to the CenterLine instead.

But many of the cities in the middle are not appeased.

“So far I am not convinced,” said Orange council member Mark Murphy. “It’s a very large investment into a system that we know will never pay for itself.”

Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz said she has many unanswered questions, and wants to hear more from the community. The city will have a public hearing and will vote on the plan Nov. 23.

Coontz said homes may have to be removed to accommodate the light rail route through La Veta Avenue, and wonders if enough people would be willing to take advantage of the system.

Some, including councilmen Mike Alvarez and Dan Slater, say they have already made up their minds.

“I don’t really see any direct benefit for our city at this time,” Alvarez said.

In Anaheim, where the council is divided on the issue, concern has been expressed about everything from ridership estimates to cost to impacts on area businesses.

Councilwoman Lucille Kring, who has been a vocal critic of the plan, questioned its economic feasibility, particularly in an affluent county where residents practically have to be pried from their cars. Also a concern, Kring said, is how rail might change tourists habits in the town where Disneyland draws more than 13 million visitors each year.

“What’s to prevent people from staying at [John Wayne] airport rather than staying in Anaheim?” she said.

In Santa Ana, the location of some of the most active anti-rail lobbying, city officials have said they continue to have deep concerns about the project, sending a letter last month to transit officials which included more than 40 pages of critique.

Garden Grove officials who worked on the project for years will not be facing such a decision, since their city was left off the route. Councilman Mark Leyes and other city officials say with the alignment under consideration, it’s no great loss.

“It’s a system that doesn’t go anywhere,” he said. “It connects South Coast Plaza to the Pond and Anaheim Stadium. Is it for the tourist? Why are we going to support the tourists that are going to be here anyway?” He added: “Just because someone wants to come in and spend a lot of money doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”

But supporters say rail is a responsible choice given the county’s traffic woes.

“I think that elected officials should try to find a way to make the project work,” said Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly. “As leaders, it’s our job to plan for the future. This is a decision that will affect the quality of life in Orange County for years to come.”

Times correspondents Chris Ceballos, Marissa Espino, Judy Silber, Luladey B. Tadesse and Mathis Winkler contributed to this report.