Fountain Valley agrees to $1.4 million in land sales for 405 Freeway widening

Fountain Valley is in line to collect about $1.4 million in exchange for two pieces of city-owned land to be overtaken by the 405 Freeway expansion.

The City Council agreed unanimously Tuesday to sell the parcels — a sliver adjacent to the drainage channel between the northbound 405 and the Euclid Street off-ramp and a 15,726-square-foot rectangular strip along the southbound side of the freeway near Ward Street that the city leases to Mike Thompson’s RV as a piece of its motor home sales lot and service center.

The Euclid Street property will sell for $180,000.

The Orange County Transportation Authority filed an eminent domain case last year against the city and Mike Thompson’s to acquire the Ward Street property. Neither the city nor Mike Thompson’s contested OCTA’s right to take the land, only the valuation.

Eminent domain is the power of a governing body to take property for public use for “just” compensation to the owner.

OCTA eventually settled with Fountain Valley on $1.2 million. The agency is negotiating separately with Mike Thompson’s on its share, which OCTA appraised at about $1.67 million. The city has been the RV dealer’s landlord since 2002.

Work at Ward Street is expected to begin in 2020.

The acquisitions are among about 300 expected along the 405, which is in the early stages of a long-planned $1.9-billion expansion project on a 16-mile portion between the 73 Freeway in Costa Mesa and the 605 Freeway near Rossmoor.

Construction kicked off last year and is expected to be completed in 2023.

The plan includes a new general-purpose lane and a new “express” toll lane in both directions. The existing carpool lane in each direction will be converted to a second toll lane. The project also will widen or replace nearly 20 bridges and renovate various freeway ramps.

In related news, the City Council agreed Tuesday to pay its contracted project manager an additional $180,000 to help the city review engineering plans where the 405 work crosses through Fountain Valley.

The city agreed to a $643,000 contract last year with Psomas, the Los Angeles-based construction engineering firm that is helping the city engineering division with plan reviews and field observations because its in-house staff is too small to handle the freeway project in addition to regular local operations.

The contract also built in regular reviews to determine whether additional charges would be needed.

OCTA agreed to reimburse the city up to $975,000 toward project reviews.

To date, the city has spent about $730,000 between Psomas and in-house staff time dedicated to freeway work. About four of the project’s 16 miles go through Fountain Valley.