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.