8 West County Cities Commission Feasibility Study on Urban Rail

If some cities in central Orange County don’t want urban rail, there may be a willing taker just to the west.

Eight of 10 cities in the West Orange County Cities Assn. moved forward this week with a $50,000 rail study designed to bolster their chances to cut to the head of the line.

If central cities like Santa Ana, Orange and Anaheim think rail is too much of a nuisance, then cities like Huntington Beach and Cypress say they may be willing to fill the void.

Huntington Beach transportation manager Tom Brohard said the study will put the cities in a better position to become an alternative route.

The coalition of cities first considered such a study about a year ago, Brohard said, in anticipation of the so-called CenterLine light rail system moving forward. The $1.5-billion, 27-mile line between Fullerton and Irvine was proposed as the first step toward a comprehensive 87-mile countywide system.

Urban rail, it seemed, would be at least decades off for coastal cities not in the original system.

But that alignment faced fierce opposition from some local businesses and residents, particularly along heavily traveled streets in Santa Ana.

Without the go-ahead from all cities along the route, transit board members late last year put off some key decisions regarding the future of light rail in the county and dramatically scaled back plans. Now a proposed first link is to run only between the Irvine Transportation Center and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

That decision, say some officials, left open the possibility that the next segment could run nearer the coast rather than turning toward the heart of the county.

“If in fact it becomes an Irvine-to-Costa Mesa link, we have a window of opportunity that we didn’t have originally,” Brohard said. “By doing this study we are in a better position.”

Orange County Transportation Authority officials say they welcome West County efforts.

“They are at least trying to develop some information to show their cities would be a good part of the county to serve with rail,” said OCTA spokesman Bill Hodge. “There has always been the potential for an alignment that would go up through West County.”

Still, Hodge said studies are much further along for the original 27-mile route through Orange County’s most populated corridor and officials are hopeful that parking and traffic issues can be resolved.

The board is scheduled to vote in July on whether to pursue preliminary engineering for the Irvine-to-Costa Mesa link, Hodge said.

“I think we recognize this is a big, complicated project,” he said. “It’s the first of its kind for a county like Orange County, which started as suburban and is quickly becoming much more urban.”

The $50,000 cost of the feasibility study is being shared by Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Stanton and Westminster. Buena Park and Seal Beach have so far declined to participate.

Officials from participating cities have asked the consultant, IBI Group, to look at how rail might fit in with transportation needs in their cities and also identify possible sources of funds.

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Wayne King, a vocal rail foe, said he had a hard time understanding why the West County cities were so interested.

“All they have to do is read the response by Orange and Anaheim and Santa Ana planners to have their answer,” King said.

“I can’t imagine why they want to waste $50,000 of their taxpayers’ funds on something that has no merit.”

Brohard said he and others disagree, calling the price tag “nominal” for such an important issue.

“It’s been studied in other places but hasn’t been studied here,” he said. “We are a little different in terms of our needs and deficiencies. It is certainly worth the initial look to see if [rail] is feasible or if it’s not.”