The Coastal Commission has had to change its February meeting venue to accommodate the expected 2,000-odd attendees. This is bad news for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, who already sent out an email to their contractors begging for support. The issue is the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension; the Governor's recent letter to the Commission in support of the project has reinvigorated both the supporters and opponents of the project. Ergo the new venue, Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which can hold up to 3,000 people. That’s a whole lot of subcontractors.
From the letter to contractors:
In an effort to fill the room with supporters of the FTC-S [Foothill-South] project; the goal is to bring 250 people to the event from the Design Build team member firms; 50 of whom are willing to speak. Kleinfelder has committed to having at least fifteen people attend the meeting, with five willing to speak on the importance and value of completing the SR-241 extension.
Coastal Commission Staff Analyst Mark Delaplaine told the North County Times the meeting will now be held at Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which can accommodate 3,000. The estimate at this point is for about 2,100 attendees.
"We've never had probably more than 500 in 30 years," Delaplaine said.
"It would certainly smash all existing records."
In addition to the 250 sponsored supporters of the toll road, there will certainly be at least as much opposition. The Surfrider Foundation in particular has taken umbrage at the governor’s short-sighted support of the toll road. In a recent press release, Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty said, “We had hoped that Governor Schwarzenegger was insincere in his threat to close state parks and beaches. It now appears that he is absolutely intent on sacrificing our state park system and natural resources for his political objectives.”
Would there be a point, do you think, in having the Commissioners ask speakers to state whether or not they work for a company that stands to benefit from the construction of the extension?
Coastal Commission says 2,000 expected to jam Oceanside City Hall
Expecting as many as 2,000 STOP THE TOLL ROAD people to gather next month for a meeting on the San Onofre toll road, the California Coastal Commission decided late Thursday to move the session from Oceanside to Del Mar.
Coastal Commission staff analyst Mark Delaplaine said the move was triggered by concerns that the 160-person capacity of the Oceanside City Council Chambers would be overwhelmed and that crowd control could become a significant problem.
Delaplaine said the meeting now will take place Feb. 6 in Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which can accommodate 3,000.
He said that if attendance comes anywhere close to 2,000, it will be a record for the commission, which regulates development along California's 1,100 miles of coastline.
"We've never had probably more than 500 in 30 years," Delaplaine said. "It would certainly smash all existing records."
The commission is scheduled to meet in San Diego County for three days in a row, or Feb. 6-8. And he stressed it will be only on the first day that the session will be held at the Del Mar venue. On the last two days, sessions will shift back to Oceanside City Hall.
The toll road is one of the more contentious issues to reach the commission in recent years.
The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency is trying to complete the last leg of Orange County's 67-mile toll road system by building a 16-mile section of Highway 241. Today, the 241 toll road starts at Highway 91 just west of the Orange-Riverside county line and ends south of Irvine. Orange County officials want to tie it into Interstate 5 near the San Diego-Orange county line.
Because (supposedly) any route through San Clemente would require bulldozing hundreds of homes, the road builder is trying to get permission to complete the last leg of its system in another county: San Diego.
The move has attracted much opposition from environmentalists who resent the plan to cross North San Diego County's San Onofre State Beach, the fifth-most popular of California's 278 state parks.
In a scathing report last fall, the commission concluded the highway would destroy 66 acres of sensitive habitat and wetlands, pushing the Pacific pocket mouse to the brink of extinction and quite possibly wiping out the only remaining population of endangered arroyo toads near the ocean. The toll builder struck back earlier this month with a lengthy rebuttal, charging that the commission staff got its facts wrong.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.
To soothe concerns that their 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension would rape the environment, destroy endangered species and habitat, pave over archaeological and sacred sites, close the San Mateo Campground, bisect inland San Onofre State Beach and possibly impact the world-famous surfing at Trestles, the road-building Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) offered the state a real oogie cookie. They propose a scant $100 Million to be used towards state parks, specifically San Onofre and Crystal Cove. The oogiest part of this cookie is that it's about 70% horse crap, but that didn't stop Governator Schwarzenegger from endorsing the offer. Still, if we make sure he's the last to spout off on the merits of the 241, then he has to eat it.
The cookie, that is.
Nevermind that State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, State Parks Foundation President Elizabeth Goldstein and local park supporters find the offer grossly inadequate. Nevermind that no amount of money WOULD be adequate, as both State Parks and the Coastal Commission staff consider the impacts of the project unmitigatable (as in, too serious to be covered by any amount of money). What's REALLY FANTASTICALLY FUNNY is that only a measly 30% of the TCA's pathetically small sum would go to the parks. The other 70% would supposedly cover the renewal of San Onofre State Beach's lease, due to expire in 2021.
Read on to see how even THAT $70 million estimate is horribly wrong.
Originally, State Parks paid only one dollar ($1.00) for the lease - it's what lawyers call a "nominal fee", meant to be more symbolic than anything else. Still, the TCA claims that the lease agreement calls for a renegotiation considering the land's "fair market value."
Sounds reasonable - except it's not true. While US Code Title 10 Section 2667 (b)(4) states that a lease of military lands shall provide for payment "an amount that is not less than the fair market value of the lease interest," there's more to the law than the TCA expects you to know. Continue on down the page to subsection f (2), which allows the military to accept less than fair market value for a lease provided "a public interest will be served as a result of the lease and the fair market value of the lease is unobtainable or not compatible with such public benefit." When the Navy first granted State Parks a lease in 1971 to create San Onofre State Beach, the State only had to pay $1.00 in rent for all 50 years of the lease. "The fair market value of the property at that time clearly exceeded one dollar," a Coastal Commission Staff Report points out. It also reiterates a point made to the Commission in 2006 - that "there is no longer adequate open space coastal property to replace that which would be lost at SOSB."
Do you get that? There isn't enough coastal property like San Onofre to replace what we'd lose if we destroy it. Not in the entire state. We'd destroy the majority of California's last untainted coastal land in one fell swoop. Well, the TCA would - but we would have to let them.
So is the TCA proposing that State Parks pay the Department of the Navy a totally unnecessary $70 Million? If not, why not lump more of that money into actual mitigation? Are they fully aware that no amount of money could possibly make up for the damage they desperately hope to cause? Or, considering the lawsuits and public outcry against the project, maybe the TCA simply has no idea what the law is... -by (Our Hero) Alex Brant-Zawadzki .
The staff of the California Coastal Commission remains opposed to the extension of the Foothill South Transportation Corridor in Orange County, even after a public relations blitz that included hundreds of pages of documents and a $100 million offer to the state's beleaguered parks department.
The project's proponents contend the privately funded road is key to improving traffic in Orange County, (TRAFFIC ON THE 5 is NORTH-SOUTH FOLKS NOT EAST-WEST) while opponents (LIKE THIS BLOG) contend it will only facilitate more development, destroy a popular state park and destroy the renowned Trestles surf break.
In a 246-page report just made available on the Coastal Commission’s Web site, the commission staff remains unwavering in its criticism of the project. “The toll road’s impacts would be permanent, irreversible, and, for the most part, unmitigable,” the report reads. “No other alternative alignment poses the threat of unmitigable and irrevocable impacts of such magnitude. The proposed alignment also raises disturbing questions about the integrity and permanence of areas that have been set aside as habitat preserves, state parks, and in the case of the (San Onofre State Beach) campground, mitigation for impacts of previously-approved development.”
The commission considers the toll road at its Feb. 6 meeting at Oceanside City Hall.
What the heck is up with California's elected officials? First Ahnold wants to downsize and shut many parks, including San Onofre. Then Ahnold decides that he is all for the toll road extension. I actually emailed him a few months ago to express my displeasure regarding the damn toll road. A couple of weeks later I got a response saying Ahnold was sitting this one out and that the proper agencies were reviewing and it was out of his hands. Now he comes out saying he supports destroying our area. Huh? To quote: "Many parts of Southern California are becoming known for traffic gridlock and crumbling roads rather than for the magic of our coastline." So let's see, he wants a massive roadway through the park. I guess the "magic of our coastline" doesn't apply to the San Onofre area. What a great way to preserve it, build a big road through it.
I urge each and every one of you who read San-O Daze to email, write or even phone the Governor and your Representative and voice you complaint. I'd hate to think this is a done deal. We recalled one idiot Governor, we can recall another.
Unfortunately, the California Coastal Commission does not allow emails, only snail mail. From their site: "The Coastal Commission cannot receive comments on any official business by electronic mail unless specifically indicated. Any information relating to official business should be sent to the appropriate Commission office using U.S. Mail or courier service." .
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