Development funding can’t hurt traffic needs

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Gridlock. Trip budgets. Mitigation. The Gisler bridge.

The words have been thrown about in the Home Ranch debate since the

most recent incarnation of the development surfaced this year, sparking

resident concern and, possibly, misunderstanding.

Somewhere between the public relation strategies and scare tactics

lies a realistic assessment of the added traffic and the need -- or lack

of it -- for the lump sum of $8.6 million being offered for specific

projects.

Those opposed to the project say the number of cars on the road will

be unbearable, and they charge the environmental reports did not

accurately assess the traffic situation.

Those in support of the project say the $8.6 million the Segerstrom

family is offering the city -- upfront -- for proposed street improvement

will more than accommodate the added traffic and allow the city to fund

the projects in advance.

City Manager Allan Roeder said the money would be nice, but the city

would not be destitute without it.

Some of the improvements include the widening of the Fairview Road

bridge and the necessary adjustments for a new Harbor Boulevard and Susan

Street exit from the San Diego Freeway. Roeder said the necessary traffic

projects would still be built if the Home Ranch project were not

approved.

“But they would take longer,” he added.

Transportation Manager Peter Naghavi agreed, saying that a large lump

sum is helpful but not crucial to alleviating some of the city’s traffic

woes. While the Segerstroms are offering the money upfront, the city

would not use the money until developments started and improvements were

needed.

With a 20-year development agreement, some projects wouldn’t be

started for years, Naghavi said.

“For 12 years, I’ve been doing this job without upfront money and it’s

worked,” Naghavi said. “But it’s better to have it than not have it.”

Naghavi and fellow staff have recommended approval of the Home Ranch

project.

Without the Segerstrom money, projects such as the widening of the

Fairview bridge would depend largely on whether the city could get grant

funding, Roeder said. He is confident Costa Mesa could obtain most of the

money over the next 10 years, he said.

Carol Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the developer, said the city would

benefit financially from a large lump sum.

“Costa Mesa can gain interest on the lump sum while designing and

getting approval for the projects,” Hoffman has said.

Robin Leffler sees it differently. The vice president of Costa Mesa

Citizens for Responsible Growth, a community group opposed to the

development, said residents’ quality of life is too much to gamble.

“Traffic mitigations are designed only to get things back to the way

they are now, not make them any better,” Leffler said. “And then what

happens if the estimates were wrong?”

Naghavi said he is confident the proposed projects will not only

offset the added traffic but make some surrounding intersections less

congested than they are now.

A Susan Street offramp is also being sought by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons,

but it is not included as part of the development agreement. If the

offramp is approved by the California Department of Transportation, the

developers have agreed to fund it completely.

The proposed offramp is designed to drop traffic into the heart of the

Home Ranch development -- obviously helping the tenants of the property

-- but it is also designed to take truck traffic off Fairview and Harbor,

Naghavi said.

“It certainly helps our city, and we support it very much because it

greatly reduces traffic at surrounding intersections,” Naghavi said.

Residents and council members alike have expressed concern over the

use of the Gisler bridge in environmental reports and analyses. Opponents

charge the report is not accurate because it assumes the bridge will be

built at the same time the City Council is working to get the bridge

taken off the city’s master plan.

Naghavi said that to comply with legal requirements of an

environmental report, the city had to evaluate the traffic effects

according to the general plan, which includes the bridges. However, in an

additional study, Naghavi said traffic from the Home Ranch project will

not require the bridge to be built.