City gets set for Centerline fight

Lolita Harper

City leaders Monday warned of a looming political battle over

plans for a regional transportation line, saying partnering cities

most likely would not support spending $1 million to study an option

to underground the track through Costa Mesa, an idea that council

members predict would be most favorable.

The campaign for a Centerline light rail system may require a

hard-line stance from city leaders to ensure the city’s best

interest, Councilwoman Libby Cowan said while updating her council

colleagues on the project’s progress during a City Council study

session on Monday.

Cowan, who has worked diligently over the past year to launch a

light rail system that would link Costa Mesa with Santa Ana and

Irvine, said city business owners support examining the option to put

portions of the rail system underground and that city leaders must

convince their counterparts in other cities of the benefits of at

least studying it.

“If indeed Centerline is going to be successful and be built, they

cannot build it without Costa Mesa,” Cowan said. “And it is essential

that we have the undergrounding studied in the preliminary stage.”

The cost to study that preference would be shared by all three

cities, though arguably, the project would only benefit Costa Mesa.

That imbalance will deter endorsements from other city leaders, she

warned said.

“This will become a political battle,” she added.

The road toward a light rail system serving Orange County has been

fraught with political potholes. The project was once envisioned as a

grandiose, 28-mile system that would link the county from north to

south, but the plan was shelved after much opposition.

During her tenure as mayor in 2001, Cowan reignited Centerline

discussions and sparked the interests of the Santa Ana and Irvine

mayors -- the latter of whom is Cowan’s indirect boss, as she works

for the city of Irvine.

The three city leaders prompted renewed interest in the project

from Orange County Transportation Authority officials. Plans for an

18-mile Centerline were back on track. Political opposition abounded

in Irvine from residents who opposed a rail running through the heart

of the city, and plans were again reworked.

Leaders finally compromised on an 11-mile system from the Santa

Ana transportation center, through the South Coast Metro portion of

Costa Mesa, to John Wayne Airport and finally ending at UC Irvine.

Cost estimates of this latest proposal are about $1.3 billion,

officials said.

Peter Naghavi, city transportation manager, said the option to

underground would tack on another $150 million. County transportation

funds, secured by Measure M, offer $345 million over four years for

the project, Naghavi said. The city of Irvine added $126 million to

the pot, he said. The remainder of the money would come from federal

grants.

Considering the scope of the regional project -- which would offer

unparalleled benefits as far as traffic and the environment go -- the

$1-million to $2-million difference in price to study the possibility

of underground tracks is insignificant, Cowan said.

“When you look at a project that will be in the billions, that is

really nothing,” she said.

The council will decide Monday whether to send a letter to county

transportation officials formally requesting the underground option

be studied.

Costa Mesa’s request for the underground study does not mean city

officials have predetermined the outcome, Naghavi said.

“[It] doesn’t necessarily mean we want to underground, but just to

study questions we may have 10 to 20 years down the road,” Naghavi

said. “And if we don’t, we’ll lose that window and those questions

will never be answered.”

County officials hope to have the Centerline project under

construction by 2007, with the first segments running by 2009,

Naghavi said.

That is, if everything goes according to plan, he said.