New plan for rail
Deirdre Newman
City officials have finally persuaded the county to consider putting
a portion of a proposed light-rail system underground where it runs
by South Coast Plaza.
The CenterLine rail under consideration is shorter and
considerably less expensive than the original proposal that was
rejected by the Orange County Transportation Authority in February.
The new underground proposal is preferred by the city, but is just
one of the options the county will consider, said Mayor Gary Monahan.
The transportation authority can’t vote on the issue until the
environmental report on the entire light-rail proposal is released
and the public has an opportunity to comment on it.
The current route, which has been abridged from its original
incarnation, calls for CenterLine to run 8.5 miles from John Wayne
Airport to the train station in Santa Ana.
The city succeeded in getting the authority to reconsider the
possibility of going underground by tweaking and re-tweaking the
route until it fit the city’s existing development instead of trying
to fit existing development into a predetermined CenterLine route,
said City Manager Allan Roeder.
“I think there was resolve all around that if, in fact, we could
not find a way for CenterLine and the north Costa Mesa [area] to fit,
then we would have to say, ‘We’re sorry, we can’t participate,’”
Roeder said.
The major players in the project -- C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, the
Orange County Performing Arts Center and other major landowners in
the north Costa Mesa area -- have pressed for an underground route so
the light-rail system doesn’t interfere with existing developments.
In June, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons threatened to withdraw its support
from the project if the transportation authority didn’t reconsider a
route that satisfied them, said authority board Chairman Tim Keenan.
Since those in the area were adamant about designing the route to
complement their existing developments, the authority did what it
could to accommodate them by sitting down for discussions and
listening to their concerns, Keenan said.
Keenan and two other board members participated in those meetings
and came up with a compromise that Keenan said he will recommend to
the rest of the board.
That compromise calls for about 1,100 feet to go under Avenue of
the Arts at a cost of about $50 million with no underground stations.
The original underground proposal called for the route to go
underground on Bristol Street, where there is a flood control
channel, with underground stations, at a price tag of about $250
million, Keenan said.
After that was rejected, the authority supported a route through
the city with an elevated line down Bristol Street, turning left on
Anton Boulevard, with stops at South Coast Plaza and South Coast
Metro areas.
Roeder said he was shocked when the authority suggested the
compromise plan.
“When they first suggested it, I kind of shook my head -- I was
kind of feeling like the Aflac duck,” Roeder said. “But as we talked
through it and as we talked through some of the details, it made a
lot of sense for what we’re trying to accomplish for CenterLine, as
well as what we’re trying to accomplish in the north part of Costa
Mesa.”
Support from all involved or affected is imperative for the
authority to deliver the project, said Ted Nguyen, the authority’s
media relations manager.
Because the new proposal is still in the preliminary stage, the
whole City Council hasn’t had the chance to examine it, Monahan said.
The city would have to approve the new route and that would depend on
both the property owners and city traffic staff supporting it, he
added.
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