Supervisors oppose Santa Ana River agency
Paul Clinton
Supervisor Jim Silva joined two board colleagues in opposing a Santa
Ana River conservancy that could protect and restore segments of the
96-mile waterway.
Silva, who represents segments of the river in Costa Mesa, Newport
Beach, Huntington Beach and other areas of Orange County, said the
proposal was vague and would create more red tape in Sacramento.
“I am concerned about the overlapping jurisdiction a conservancy
would create and its effects on county operations,” Silva said in a
statement Wednesday. “I believe we should avoid creating additional
layers of government.”
The board voted 3 to 2 at its Tuesday meeting to oppose a bill
from Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) to create the agency.
Correa said he was somewhat surprised by the vote, considering his
bill had the support of Assemblymen Ken Maddox (R-Costa Mesa) and Tom
Harman (R-Huntington Beach), among others.
“It’s a little soon to form an opinion,” Maddox said Wednesday.
“The bill is still in its infancy.”
Correa, who said he is mulling a run for a supervisor seat,
disagreed that the bill creates more bureaucracy. He said the bill
would, in actuality, pull together a variety of agencies to increase
bond funding for river projects.
Correa also said he would be willing to tweak the bill to assuage
some of the criticism.
“This bill is aimed at coordinating all of those government
layers,” Correa said. “This is a new bill. It will go through a lot
of changes.”
Silva called the bill vague, saying it hasn’t properly defined who
would sit on the conservancy board.
The bill has also caused consternation among Supervisors Bill
Campbell and Chris Norby, who joined Silva in opposing it, because it
could create another hurdle to the county’s plans to extend the
Orange Freeway.
Maddox said he doesn’t support extending that freeway, which would
be “running through Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.”
The supervisors took the vote as part of their periodic review of
new bills in their legislative bulletin.
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