Loop road approved despite residents’ ire

Marisa O’Neil and Alicia Robinson

An access road at Newport Coast Elementary School that came under

fire by neighboring residents got the go-ahead at Tuesday’s City

Council meeting and is scheduled for completion before school starts

in the fall.

Residents turned their ire on city staffers and council members

Tuesday for the process used to OK the loop-road project. A number of

residents who spoke in opposition to the project criticized city

officials for not notifying them of the proposed road until they were

ready to vote on a contract, and they raised the specter of a

possible lawsuit on the grounds that it doesn’t meet standards of the

California Environmental Quality Act.

“We feel like we’re being railroaded on the issue,” said Gregory

Brown, a resident of the Tesoro gated community, which sits on a

bluff overlooking the school and proposed road.

The 1,100-foot-long, 20-foot-wide road will direct traffic from

northbound Newport Coast Drive, around the school’s playground, into

the parking lot and out onto Ridge Park Road during student drop-off

and pick-up times. It will be closed the rest of the time.

Traffic problems have plagued the school since it opened in 2001,

with long lines of cars queuing outside and parents dropping off

their children across the busy street.

About a dozen residents spoke on the loop-road issue at Tuesday’s

council meeting. Most were either Newport Coast Elementary School

parents, who urged the council to consider the safety of students, or

residents of Tesoro, who argued that using the road as a school

entrance will hurt their property values and damage their quality of

life with vehicle noise and exhaust.

Bromberg said the council also was notified about the issue

relatively late in the game, and he took staff members to task for

that but added that the council has a share of the responsibility.

“We’re the policymakers, and I think we blew it with respect to

putting [property owners] on notice,” he said.

Bromberg said he would have liked more time to consider various

alternatives being suggested by residents, but Public Works Director

Steve Badum said if the council didn’t approve the contract Tuesday,

the delay might require rebidding the entire project and would make

it impossible to complete by the beginning of school in the fall.

“There’s a huge concern that something’s going to happen out

there, and that’s why we’ve pushed this through so quickly,” he said.

Tesoro residents simply want to know how the road will affect

their neighborhood, environmentally and otherwise, resident Thomas

LeBeau said Wednesday. They also want assurances that it will be a

part of a total package including cooperation from parents and

enforcement by police.

Council members on Tuesday voted 4 to 2 to award a $364,552

contract to GCI Construction to build the loop road, with councilmen

Steve Bromberg and Dick Nichols dissenting. Councilman Gary Adams was

not present.

“They realize the issue of safety was the issue at hand,” said

Shana Woodyard, the school’s PTA president. “We have worked to try

and protect the children, and we’re hoping we can work with the

surrounding community to make this a win-win for everybody.”

Woodyard said the project’s success will rely upon cooperation

between the school, city, police and neighbors. Other measures, like

a new entrance for buses and crossing guards at the exit, will also

be necessary, she said.

“I have lived the nightmare every day with the traffic and seen so

many near misses and heard parents say: ‘Please solve the problem,’”

she said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or at marisa.oneil@latimes.com. ALICIA ROBINSON covers

business, politics and the environment. She may be reached at (949)

764-4330 or at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.