Irvine Sidetracks Rail Decision for a Week

After hearing complaints from dozens of residents, the Irvine City Council agreed Wednesday to wait a week before deciding whether to join Santa Ana and Costa Mesa in resurrecting plans for a light rail system that would link the neighboring cities.

Residents took turns--some waiting past midnight to speak their minds--expressing fierce opposition to the proposed tri-city rail and criticizing Mayor Larry Agran for pushing the plan.

Several criticized Agran for bringing the matter to the City Council before organizing workshops in neighborhoods impacted by the railway. A few compared Agran and his support of the rail plan to the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ support for an airport at El Toro.

“I feel that you, Mayor Agran, are trying to push the CenterLine through like the Board of Supervisors is trying to push the airport upon the people of South County,” said Leslie Pyle, who lives in Woodbridge, where a portion of the proposed rail alignment would run.

The controversial $2.3-billion CenterLine project, once envisioned as running from Irvine to Fullerton, was abandoned earlier this year as political and business support for the project began to crumble.

Now Agran, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Costa Mesa Mayor Libby Cowan are hoping to revive the project with a route that runs only through their communities. It is estimated that the three-city link would cost about $1 billion.

All three cities must endorse the idea before the Orange County Transportation Authority will consider studying a truncated version of the CenterLine project. The rail would run from the transportation center in Irvine to the train station in Santa Ana, passing through South Coast Metro and other business and retail areas. Building a spur to UC Irvine is also under consideration.

The three cities hope that once a rail system is built, other cities will join.

While many Irvine residents criticized the plan, some defended it, saying a light rail system would provide a much-needed and efficient mode of public transportation. But most speakers--many of whom carried fliers that read “Stop the rail”--weren’t sold on the plan, saying the proposed route would urbanize their peaceful residential areas and wipe out the remaining open space along San Diego Creek.

“You are talking about taking one of the most beautiful islands of serenity and putting a rail line through--this is wrong,” said Ralph Shapiro.

After the meeting, Agran said many of the concerns will be addressed in the studies, which would include a series of community workshops.