Costa Mesa leaders urge underground rail system

Lolita Harper

The City Council voted Monday to send a letter to county

transportation officials formally requesting an underground rail

system option be studied for a small portion of the Centerline light

rail tracks that would run through the city’s arts district.

Councilwoman Libby 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.

Cowan admitted that the final decision was still in the hands of

officials with the Orange County Transportation Authority, but said

it was important to send the right message.

“This is a very important statement we can make to OCTA,” Cowan

said. “[We have been] very clear that we are absolutely on board --

all puns intended -- with the Centerline project, but we have some

questions.”

Cowan asked the OCTA to consider the underground option in April,

but got no response. A letter from the City Council would send a

stronger message, she said.

The cost to study the underground preference would be shared by

all three cities, though arguably, the option would only benefit

Costa Mesa. That imbalance will deter endorsements from other city

leaders and cause a political battle, she warned.

Resident Frank Forbath opposed the request, saying a study with

such a high price tag will further tarnish the reputation of the

troubled rail proposal at state and federal levels.

Forbath said the effort to create a rail system in Orange County

has become something of a joke to legislators, who reportedly

consider it a project that will never get built because of the lack

of consensus among the cities who want it. Adding $150 million to the

overall price tag will give them even more reason to limit funding

for the project, he said.

Peter Naghavi, the city’s transportation manager, said the option

to put part of the system 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 rest of the money

would come from federal grants.

The Centerline light rail system is set to travel -- for the most

part above ground -- from the Santa Ana transportation center,

through the South Coast Metro portion of Costa Mesa and to John Wayne

Airport before finally ending at UC Irvine. Cost estimates of the

latest proposal are about $1.3 billion, officials said.

Council members and business owners have questioned the

above-ground option, saying research of the underground option could

provide the consensus needed to put the project back on the right

track.

The 11-mile rail, set to run from Santa Ana to Irvine, cannot be

built without Costa Mesa, which links the two cities, Cowan said. It

is important that Costa Mesa be given the opportunity to at least

study the underground option, which city officials predict is the

best option.

Representatives from C.J. Segerstrom and Sons and Commonwealth

Partners Inc., which own the land in the city’s arts district,

endorsed the costly study, saying an above-ground system in that area

would be intrusive and problematic.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.