Agency Nixes Toll Extension

After a day-long hearing attended by a crowd estimated to be in the thousands, the state agency that regulates coastal development Wednesday voted down plans for a 16-mile extension of the toll highway system in Orange County.

The proposed Foothill South extension would link Orange County toll roads operated by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency with Interstate 5 near the Orange County-San Diego border.

The California Coastal Commission is a state government entity with powers to plan and regulate the use of land and water in California’s coastal zone. The toll road had to go before the Coastal Commission because its planned route would go through part of the San Onofre State Beach, a well-known surfing venue.

By an 8-to-2 vote, commissioners determined that the Foothill South proposal would not meet the standards of the California Coastal Act, which regulates development on the coast.

The meeting drew so many people, both for and against the toll road, that it had to be moved to a large hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

The planned $875 million toll road would be financed with toll revenue bonds.

The bonds could be issued through the Foothill/Eastern agency, though the leaders of Foothill/Eastern have contemplated a formal combination of the Foothill/Eastern agency with the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency to form a new agency that would take out the existing debt of the two agencies.

Despite the commission’s vote this week, according to published reports the toll road’s leaders believe they can appeal the decision to the federal government, because the state beach is on leased federal land.

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