Bridge notion widens gap between cities

Lolita Harper

To bridge or not to bridge, that is the question.

City leaders thought the question had been answered years ago when

regional leaders opted to find other options to county traffic woes,

rather than build bridges over the Santa Ana River to connect Costa

Mesa to Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.

The quandary has no simple answer, Fountain Valley officials now

say, and no option -- not even a bridge connecting Gisler and

Garfield avenues -- can be ruled out. Fountain Valley council members

voted Tuesday to request $500,000 in grant funding to study design

and environmental probabilities for a bridge at Gisler Avenue.

The move shocked and appalled Costa Mesa residents and leaders who

said they understood the bridge would never be built and would fight

its construction every step of the way.

Fountain Valley Mayor John Collins said their amazement was

surprising, considering the plan for a bridge has been around for

five decades.

“This has been on the county master plan since 1956,” Collins

said. “It’s not something that just popped up. Anyone who bought a

home in that area should have been advised that this is in the

planning stages. People can guess it won’t be built, but the fact is

that it is on the plan.”

Collins denies any implication that his city was trying to sneak

the plans by anyone and said the funding request was simply an effort

to “find out if it’s a feasible thing to do.”

Fountain Valley will remain active in the Santa Ana River

Crossings Study -- the collaborative effort to find bridge

alternatives -- but had to file the funding request before Friday’s

deadline.

Despite the revival of the controversy, Costa Mesa City Manager

Alan Roeder said the city will continue cooperative discussions with

Fountain Valley. Roeder said he believes a possible solution is near.

He expects traffic engineers from both cities to meet soon.

“I don’t think that Fountain Valley’s filing of a grant

application preempts in any way our ability to come up with a

consensus,” Roeder said.

The Santa Ana River Crossing Study is a collaborative effort

between Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley

and the Orange County Transportation Authority to find alternatives

to the contentious bridges -- including a 19th Street bridge -- that

have been part of county plans for the past 50 years.

Transportation authority officials, acting as the lead on the

study, have said the bridges will only be removed from county plans

if the four participating cities can agree on a feasible alternative.

Fountain Valley’s surprise move to request independent funding of

a bridge at Gisler Avenue undermines that spirit of cooperation and

sends the impression of a failed collaboration, Costa Mesa officials

have said.

Costa Mesa arguably has been the most devoted city to the Santa

Ana River Crossing Study both financially and politically. Previous

council members allotted $100,000 to Santa Ana Rivers Crossings Study

-- half of the $200,000 total. The consensus among Costa Mesa city

leaders is that either bridge would ruin the surrounding residential

neighborhoods.

A handful of Mesa Verde residents attended Tuesday’s Fountain

Valley City Council meeting to voice their disapproval of the grant

funding request. Mayor Karen Robinson -- who lives in Mesa Verde --

former mayor Sandra Genis, former councilman Jay Humphrey and vocal

city activists Cindy Brenneman and Robin Leffler were among those who

spoke out.

The Fountain Valley mayor said he respected their activism, but

said their anger was premature. The simple request for funds is a

very, very preliminary step in the process and should not preclude

the cities from working together, he said.

“If we get the money, we will do the study to see if it’s a

feasible project,” Collins said. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. This

is not a vote to build the bridge; this is a vote to get the money.”

Funding from the transportation authority, which is faced with the

expensive project of possibly rebuilding an entire offramp, is not

likely to approve the funding for the Gisler Avenue bridge, officials

said.

Roeder said there are a series of steps each grant request much go

through and part of that is being able to stand up against hundreds

of other requests. Transportation officials will weigh the study for

a Gisler/Garfield Avenue bridge in light of the various other

transportation projects in the county.

“The process will go forward to see how Fountain Valley’s proposal

stacks up against the hundreds that are submitted countywide,” Roeder

said. “Typically, there are far more requests than there ever is

funding available.”

Fountain Valley sits on one side of Garfield Avenue and Huntington

Beach on the other. Surf city residents, like Costa Mesans, are

vehemently opposed to a bridge.

Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Debbie Cook said she doubted

the study would be considered a county priority.

“I would be really surprised if it became a priority for [the

transportation authority],” Cook said. “It certainly wouldn’t be at

the top of my list, especially with all the budget constraints going

on right now.”

Transportation authority officials could not be reached for

comment.

John Scott, a member of a Huntington Beach homeowners association

who has fought a bridge for 10 years, said Fountain Valley’s

independent request for funding was a huge waste of taxpayer money.

“My disappointment stems from the fact that this is a regional

problem that should be solved with everyone at the table,” Scott

said. “Then I read that Fountain Valley is going off and starting a

process all on their own. With Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach

opposed to the project, it seems like a futile effort.”

With such strong opposition from all the surrounding residents,

Cook said she can’t imagine why Fountain Valley homeowners would

approve.

“I am wondering if some of the Fountain Valley residents are just

not clued in,” said Cook, who added that Fountain Valley council

meetings are not televised. “I wonder what those residents would say

if they knew.”

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

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