Rail Backers: Look Harder for Funds

Proponents of a $1.5-billion light-rail system proposed between Fullerton and Irvine need to be more aggressive in forming partnerships with the private sector to raise the money for the project, a trustee of the Orange County Transportation Authority said Monday.

Board member Todd Spitzer, who is also an Orange County supervisor, said OCTA should hire a developer immediately as a consultant to speed the process by contacting businesses along the 29-mile route proposed for the rail line. The private partners would help pay to build and maintain the system and would share the profits when it is running, he said.

“If entrepreneurs in the county see how much money there is to be made, we have an opportunity to build a system and have it pay for itself,” Spitzer said at an OCTA board meeting Monday.

Planners were already considering such a process, but Spitzer said it could move much faster. No links have been forged, he said, though Disneyland officials and developers of South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and The Block in Orange have expressed an interest.

The CenterLine light-rail system has been in the works since 1990, when the OCTA board approved initial plans for 87 miles of track across the county. Planners say they hope to begin construction on he first phase by 2004. Most of the money to build the line would come from state and federal transportation programs, with the rest coming from county transportation taxes.

The plan has encountered heavy opposition, though, from businesses and residents of some cities. They are concerned that the system would cost too much for the benefit it provides, and that it would lower property values along the route.

Public-private partnerships, which would ease the burden on taxpayers, could broaden support for the rail system, Spitzer said. He criticized how the project has been handled so far, saying planners’ efforts have focused too much on gaining the board’s approval and not enough on winning allies among city officials and developers.

“We don’t have enough money under the present revenue system. If the board thinks it’s better to elevate the system, the only way to get a funding source is by looking at development opportunities,” Spitzer said after Monday’s board meeting. He said the planning process was backward and that the rail system might have more public support now if the transit authority had hired a consultant sooner.

OCTA board member Tom Wilson, who like Spitzer is an Orange County supervisor, said he too wants OCTA to focus more on business links, but he was less critical. “OCTA has had a number of balls in the air,” he said. “I think our outreach program should certainly be adjusted so that the light-rail system gets its day in court among residents.”

The construction cost could go higher by as much as $500 million if the board decides to build an elevated track, which its staff overwhelmingly supports, said Dave Elbaum, director of planning and development for OCTA.

“It’s a legitimate issue to raise,” he said of Spitzer’s criticism, “but a lot of it is a question of timing.”

Other board members expressed surprise at Spitzer’s position and said the planning is preliminary, given that the exact route for the rail system is still being debated.

“I don’t see how we could have done it differently in terms of which comes first, the horse or the cart,” board member Susan Withrow said. “You plan, you pick the alignments, you design the overpasses, then you go out and enlist the support of the development community.”

Transit planners say they will propose a strategy by mid-May for approaching developers.