County officials mull CenterLine options

Deirdre Newman

Voters in Irvine rejected the CenterLine route through their city on

Tuesday, prompting the Orange County Transportation Authority board

to reexamine the entire project.

On Tuesday, 52% of Irvine voters opposed the CenterLine route. In

a ray of hope, though, 52% of voters also rejected an initiative that

would have banned the city’s participation in any light rail system.

The CenterLine project calls for an 11.4-mile light rail system to

connect Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Irvine. Irvine’s portion would have

included a route from UC Irvine through the Irvine Business Complex

to John Wayne Airport.

In response to Irvine’s rebuff of the CenterLine route, the board

will consider the future of the light rail system at its July 14

meeting, including ending the route at John Wayne Airport, shifting

its efforts to bus and other rail options or terminating the project

altogether.

Costa Mesa and Santa Ana still support the project, Councilwoman

Libby Cowan said, adding that she spoke with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel

Pulido on Wednesday.

“We’re both very excited about the potential of CenterLine for our

communities,” Cowan said. “We also have several other cities like

Garden Grove and Anaheim and Fullerton and others who have also

expressed interest in being the next segment.”

Opposition to the light rail in Irvine started in the Woodbridge

community, but that area of the project was deleted from the route

and from the city’s general plan. The two initiatives were still put

on the Irvine ballot.

On Monday, the Costa Mesa City Council pulled a CenterLine item

from its consent calendar, where it would have been approved

automatically. The item involved a cooperative agreement with the

authority supporting preliminary engineering of the light rail

system, which began last June.

Cowan said one of the reasons the council delayed a vote on the

agreement was that city leaders are still meeting with the South

Coast Metro business community to confirm the route.

As it stands, the CenterLine route through Costa Mesa would enter

the city from Santa Ana from an elevated position headed south on

Bristol Street and then turn onto Anton Boulevard. After a stop on

Anton, it would begin going down to at-grade near Sakioka Drive and

continue at-grade until just before MacArthur Boulevard and Main

Street, where it would be elevated again.

“We’re looking at some alignments as opposed to Bristol to Anton,”

Cowan said. “The business community remains very supportive of the

CenterLine project.”

The council will reconsider the agreement at its June 16 meeting.