City will ask developers to fund rail study

Deirdre Newman

The city will ask South Coast Plaza developers for money to study

placing the Centerline rail project underground through the area.

Next week, city officials will ask for contributions toward a

$3-million study on undergrounding the light-rail project, City

Manager Allan Roeder said.

While the Orange County Transportation Authority board has not

expressed a formal position on the undergrounding, no individual

member has come forward to support it, said Ted Nguyen, the agency’s

media relations manager. That’s because of concerns that the

increased costs of undergrounding would decrease the project’s

ability to gain federal funding, he said.

That leaves Costa Mesa in the precarious position of having to

come up with the $3 million, which is unlikely considering the gloomy

economic climate, Roeder said.

Because the business community pushed for the undergrounding in

the first place, they are being tapped to fund the study, he said.

But one of the largest developers in the South Coast Plaza area is

not rushing to write a check. Paul Freeman, spokesman for the

Segerstroms, said it’s the city’s responsibility to fund the study

since the other two cities involved -- Irvine and Santa Ana -- have

already paid to explore various alternatives in their areas.

“Both cities had public funding support to look at various

alternatives and both got something out if it,” Freeman said.

“Somehow when Costa Mesa wants to analyze some alternatives, all of a

sudden cost is prohibitive.”

In October 2001, the transportation authority agreed unanimously

to move ahead on plans to build the light-rail system.

In May, the authority secured approval from the Federal

Transportation Authority to proceed with preliminary engineering for

the 18-mile project. That process to clarify routes and station

locations is expected to be completed by September, giving city and

business leaders a tight deadline to raise money and complete the

study.

The authority pegs the cost of undergrounding the light-rail

through Costa Mesa at about $200 million on top of the entire

$1.5-billion project cost.

Freeman said the Segerstroms have previously contributed

financially to a city-sponsored study a few years ago that resulted

in an above-ground light-rail alignment that they would support.

But the route proposed by the authority -- crossing Anton

Boulevard, then heading north on Bristol Street past South Coast

Plaza -- needs to be underground so it doesn’t interfere with the

existing developments, Freeman said.

“This is the most highly dense area [of the entire project] -- the

most visitors, the most traffic, the most square footage of

development,” Freeman said. “We’re trying to make it pedestrian

friendly, aesthetically world class.”

Freeman also asserts that putting the light-rail underground

through this stretch would save money.

“[You] don’t have to worry about architecture and ... there’s a

much easier way to have a direct connection into South Coast Plaza,

which would certainly boost the ridership numbers. Costs have been

going up [for the entire project] and estimation of ridership has

been going down.”

Councilwoman Libby Cowan said she believes the cost of

undergrounding the light-rail service in Costa Mesa can be reduced --

by creating a partnership with developers. Private property owners

around South Coast Plaza might be more amenable to giving the city

its right-of-way rights if the service is undergrounded, but might

charge the city if it is above-ground, Cowan said.

Cowan is also still holding out hope that the authority board will

give the city a full hearing on funding the study. But in the case

that neither the authority nor the businesses owners shell out the $3

million, city support for the rail-service will remain, Cowan

declared.

“We just want a fair shot at this because we think it will be less

expensive with public-private partnerships developed and we think

it’s worth a study, but we also will not kill the Centerline.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.