COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Wayne J. and Helice Subcasky

I have two words for the Greenlight Implementation Committee’s efforts

for the expansion of the Koll properties -- deceptive and misleading.

Concerning the proposed project’s effect on traffic, the committee, in

its literature, stresses the idea that the project is miles from coastal

residential areas and will not affect coastal traffic. What about the

many Newport Beach residents in neighborhood communities like Newport

North, the Bluffs, Eastbluff, One Ford Road, Big Canyon and even Harbor

View Homes that are much closer to the project? And I bet even coastal

residents occasionally use MacArthur Boulevard or Jamboree Road to get to

the airport, the freeways or central and northern Orange County.

The proponents of the Koll expansion brag about providing “more than

$3 million for traffic solutions at various locations including the

MacArthur-Jamboree intersection.” Yet city staff has estimated that if a

grade separation is needed to remedy the traffic problems caused by the

expansion, it would cost $15 million. Guess who pays the other $12

million? Some members of the City Council are even suggesting the

possibility of an overpass at the MacArthur-Jamboree intersection. How

much would this cost? And who would pay for it?

The developer has put forth the idea that the additional traffic

caused by the project is only a small increase percentage-wise in the

total traffic in the area, that the $3-million donation is far greater

than this percentage increase and, therefore, he is doing more than his

fair share. However, it is not the percent increase that is important, it

is the effect of an additional incremental overload on an already

congested area and intersection. When a river overflows its banks, it is

the additional foot of water that causes the damage, not the 50 feet of

water that might normally flow in the river during non-flooding

conditions.

The developer has argued that most of the traffic generated by this

expansion will be from Irvine and Santa Ana to the north and therefore

will have minimal effect upon traffic to the south of the

MacArthur-Jamboree intersection. I am sure that additional traffic

signals will be needed at the entrances to the expanded project on both

MacArthur and Jamboree to aid access to the project and to promote

safety. These traffic signals will, of necessity, decrease the time for

free flow of traffic along MacArthur and Jamboree. The result will be an

increased backup of traffic all along these two streets south of their

intersection.

Currently, it takes three to five minutes to pass through the

intersections of Jamboree with Eastbluff-University Drive, Bayview Way,

southeast Bristol Street, north Bristol and MacArthur during afternoon

rush hour. I know these are correct figures because I currently travel

through these intersections twice a week. With the proposed expansion,

this lost time could be expected to double. Using the methods of

transportation authorities to estimate the cost of lost time due to

traffic tie-ups and assuming 6,000 cars per day use these intersections

after the expansion with an increased transit time of only five minutes,

the value of the additional lost time is more than $5,000 per day. This

does not include any costs associated with increased gasoline

consumption, pollution or increased accidents in these heavily traveled

intersections.

We have seen through the misleading and deceptive propaganda of the

Greenlight Implementation Committee. We are voting “no” on Measure G.

WAYNE J. and HELICE SUBCASKY

Newport Beach