Save Trestles Campaign
Latest update on Save Trestles campaign: Vote delayed
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 19 January, 2006 : - - As you know, there was a board meeting last Thursday in Mission Viejo, where the TCA was to have officially chosen the preferred alignment for the 241 Foothill-South extension. That vote has been delayed until tomorrow’s meeting (again in Mission Viejo).
Last Thursday was also the deadline for comments on the TCA’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Surfrider Foundation submitted comments, as did all of our coalition partners. As part of our comments, the Surfrider Foundation submitted findings from an independent engineering study which we commissioned several months ago.
The study was carried out by Philip Williams & Associates, an engineering firm based in San Francisco that specializes in environmental hydrology. As suspected, the study concluded that there were significant errors and omissions in the final EIR submitted by the TCA – most notably in regards to how the project will affect the watershed in terms of erosion and flow characteristics that could possibly lead to changes to the breaks at Trestles.
We believe that this study will provide us with substantial ammunition, should there be any litigation for violations to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). One of our coalition partners, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also turned in a study, conducted by KCA Engineering, one of the nation’s leading civil engineering firms, which found that the TCA grossly over-exaggerated the number of homes and businesses that could be potentially displaced by an I-5 widening project.
While the TCA asserts that over 280 homes and business would be lost in San Clemente, the KCA Engineering study found that the actual number was closer to 25. In addition to environmental organizations, comments were also submitted by the California State Parks Department and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who in a four page letter was quoted as saying “the building of a multi-lane toll road through the heart of San Onofre State Beach is unacceptable and should be reconsidered.”
It seems that many South Orange County and Northern San Diego residents agree with Attorney General Lockyer – as evidenced by last night’s unanimous decision by the Laguna Beach City Council to oppose the TCA’s proposed toll road project. The Surfrider Foundation applauds the City of Laguna Beach for their courage and long-sightedness in joining the City of Oceanside in publicly opposing the toll road’s preferred alignment.
With a similar vote taking place tonight in the City of Aliso Viejo, we are hoping to see more and more cities coming out in opposition of this ill-conceived project. This tactic was similarly employed back in 2003, when the Surfrider Foundation worked with various coastal cities to stop the Orange County Sanitation Department’s use of 301h waiver (thereby decreasing the amount of partially treated sewage being discharged into the water off of Huntington Beach).
While there is still a long way to go in this campaign, we are encouraged by the groundswell of support we are seeing from the community. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Tim Brown, Michael Marckx and our friends at Globe, in association with the Tim Brown Invitational Golf Tournament, as well as our friends at Jack’s Surfboards. Thanks to their generosity, the Surfrider Foundation was able to fund the PWA study.
www.savetrestles.org
www.surfrider.org
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Matt McClain
Environment - Surfersvillage
