By David Reyes
Los Angeles Times
July 12, 20061
A
coalition of Orange County's major employers, businesses and
labor groups took legal action Tuesday to support the
extension of a toll road through San Onofre State Beach.
The group is asking a court's permission to intervene in a
pending lawsuit that seeks to block the project. Whether the
permission will be granted will be decided at a hearing in
October.
The group's effort to support the toll road agency was
announced at a news conference in Santa Ana. Business leaders
acknowledged that the controversial 16-mile planned extension
had raised strong environmental concerns but said the project
would create jobs and a healthy regional economy.
The state and a dozen environmental groups have sued to block
the project, which they say would harm the environment at one
of the state's landmark surf spots.
But business leaders said the alternative was worse.
"Extending the toll road is critical to the area's
economy," said Lucy Dunn, chief executive for the Orange
County Business Council.
"The alternative is to destroy hundreds of homes"
for a new road alignment that would cut through several
southern Orange County communities, she said.
The coalition includes the business council, Los Angeles and
Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council, black
and Latino chambers of commerce and southern Orange County
chambers of commerce.
Ruben Smith, an attorney representing the coalition, has asked
the court for permission to join the case.
He said labor groups and businesses had a stake in whether the
toll road was constructed.
In February, the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor
Agency in Orange County approved extending the toll road from
Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to Interstate 5 at
Basilone Road, south of San Clemente.
But a month later, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and
environmental organizations sued in state court in San Diego
attempting to block construction and preserve the popular
park.
"TCA chose to build this road without evaluating its toll
on a state park that is an affordable recreational resource
for working families in the region," said Teresa
Schilling, Lockyer's spokeswoman.
"Had TCA employed vision and leadership, we could be
breaking ground on a project that meets regional
transportation needs without destroying a state
treasure," she said.
Toll road officials have said an extension is the only option
that can reduce traffic in the south county area. They said
congestion on Interstate 5 was projected to increase 60% by
2025.
Widening I-5 would destroy hundreds of homes and businesses
and eliminate jobs, the toll agency has said.
At the news conference, labor leaders said they did not want
to appear insensitive to the environment. But consideration of
jobs and the economy may outweigh putting a toll road close to
a state beach.
"These are tough choices," Dunn said. "But you
can't live in an environment where you can get your cake and
eat it too."
Toll road critics said there were alternative ideas and routes
avoiding the state park.
"I think their argument sets up a false choice, because
it's not a choice between transportation or the park, or
businesses and the park," said Sara Feldman, Southern
California director of the California State Parks Foundation,
a nonprofit group.
Last month, the toll road agency won a small victory when
Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and others inserted
language in the state budget prohibiting the agency from
building the toll road through San Onofre State Beach and a
conference committee of senators and Assembly members voted it
down.
|
|
