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.
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