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.