San Juan Capistrano : Tollway Agency, City Agree to Concessions

The City Council this week decided not to challenge the planned San Joaquin Hills tollway in exchange for about $2.5 million in roadway and other improvements the project builder has agreed to make.

Recently, the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies, the umbrella organization for two tollway projects in the county, told city officials it will condemn a section of Rancho Viejo Road in the city that must be moved east to make way for the corridor.

Believing they wouldn’t stand much of a chance in court if they challenged that condemnation, council members said they decided to strike the deal with the agency.

In exchange for the city’s promise not to challenge the condemnation, the agency will provide the city with the $2.5 million worth of improvements.

Those improvement include additional landscaping for sound walls in the project, bike lanes and equestrian trails, intersection signals and various freeway improvements. The agreement was hammered out by city officials and agency representatives.

The council’s decision means the corridor agency can proceed with construction of the tollway, which includes an Interstate 5 interchange, without having to deal with the city’s building permit process.

The agency would also be immune from city regulations while operating under the process to condemn the road, city officials said.

Councilman Jeff Vasquez cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday night when the council voted to approve the agreement. Vasquez said it was a mistake for the council to give up its right to require building permits.

He said the council has seen only a conceptual plan. In addition, he said, agency officials still need to conduct tests to determine what effect noise from the tollway will have on nearby homes.

“Rather than getting married to this agency, the council should be protecting the rights of the people living by the road,” Vasquez said.

For the past year, Save Our San Juan (SOS), a grass-roots community group, has fought the planned tollway, claiming it will destroy the tranquillity of the rural neighborhoods on the east side of the freeway.

The group recently sued the city and the tollway agency in an attempt to block the city’s decision in March to endorse the agency’s development plans in San Juan Capistrano--to move Rancho Viejo Road east and widen it to four lanes.

SOS members argue a new environmental study is needed because the agency has changed its plans in the area so many times.