We Saved Trestles… FINALLY, No Mo’ Toll Road!

“This is an incredible moment,” said 35-year San Clemente resident Steve Netherby. “This is a moment we’ve been waiting for a decade. You can’t imagine the ecstasy we feel.” […]

“This toll road project is precisely the kind of project the Coastal Act was intended to prevent,” said Coastal Commission executive director Peter Douglas.

It seems like this has been a long time coming. But now… FINALLY… The Toll Road to Trestles is no more! In a stunning 8-2 decision last night, the Coastal Commission rejected TCA’s plan to rip apart San Onofre State Beach for a boondoggle that could have been “Foothill South”.

OK, so what does this mean for all of us? Hopefully, this is a wake-up call for all of our local elected officials and “business leaders” to stop looking for “easy ways out” and start thinking of real solutions to our long term transportation and development problems. It’s easy to propose an illegal toll road through a state park, and it’s easy to propose unlimited development without a plan to deal with infrastructure and a promise to preserve our endangered open space. However, what may be easy isn’t always wise.

That’s why we all need to keep the pressure on. Yes, we’ve now saved Trestles. But now, we also need to save our county from the folly of our political “leaders”.

We need to urge them to stop enroaching on our parks, our land, our environment, our PUBLIC open space. We need to urge them to stop thinking that only more toll roads can solve our traffic problem, and start thinking of new, innovative solutions. We need to get them to realize that our current ways are what’s killing us, and we need to change.

We won… But we’re not done yet.

4 Comments

  1. As a Democrat and Teamster I just can’t fathom what occurred last night. By voting down the 241 it was a vote for inaction and worse yet it leaves a foul taste in every commuter’s mouth. With 14,000 Sierra Club approved houses and 3 million square feet of commercial space going in Rancho Mission Viejo we’re sure to see traffic get much worse. So much for quality of life, open space, air or water quality.

    I’m sure commuters will think about who caused this problem with every trip on the 5, So much for ever turning these red communities blue. This was a great opportunity to get South County thousands of union jobs, change demographics, save a state part from being history in a decade, improve air quality, improve access to the coast, improve public safety, and improve environmental programs through mitigation with TCA.

    The idea that the state park will even exist past the current lease is a pie in the sky dream without the funds proposed by TCA. I’m sure the Marines would love to put military housing where the campground currently lies, or maybe they’ll increase the size of the mini-Fallujah that they’re about to build where the Agriculture fields are now. And if anyone has ever camped at San Mateo it’s not Yosemite, it’s a sea of power lines, military training, and noise from the 5. Roads through state parks are nothing new, look at Carbon Canyon and the new road to the water treatment plan about to be built.

    There is no science that suggests that Trestles would be damaged, there are no Arroyo Toad, Pacific Pocket Mice, or endangered trout in the proposed route. The proposed road removes less than a quarter of an acre of wetlands and TCA proposed mitigating that by restoring a full acre of wetlands, that’s a net increase of wetlands. One can only imagine what TCA will do with the extra land it has amassed as possible mitigation areas. Maybe they’ll sell that parcel by Cook’s Corner to some big developer. I’m sure the Sierra Club would love to play let’s make a deal with that parcel much the same as with the Rancho Mission Viejo project. Just imagine if the TCA had gotten the opportunity to add more mitigation areas here in Orange County. I love viewing the wildlife at the TCA restored salt-water wetlands next to Fletcher Jones in Newport, not to mention the walks you can take along the Bonita Creek mitigation area. I hate to argue about this but TCA really was a leader in the mitigation areas along the Bonita Creek, it is Riparian paradise. Best of all you can see along the TCA site, mitigation areas for the Irvine Water District and the Irvine Company which are simply crab grass and weeds.

    I just don’t see the benefit of shunning this infrastructure to save what will probably be lost forever when the lease expires when we’ll all be waiting in traffic for the 5 to be widened and the cost of building the road at that point will be 4 or 5 times as much as today. I’m sure our children will thank us for this mess.

  2. Let’s hope that there will be thousands of union jobs in South County in the near future for building transportation infrastructure that is more environmentally responsible than the proposed 241 extension.

  3. It’s a great mess that we will never seen. Noone cares about your political views it’s irrelevant in protecting our coast. I see several people trying to see the toll road will be a great idea. How? Oh it’s going to save 5 minutes of our time on the freeway? Come on wake up people. It’s going to bring more and more traffic. Because if there is a toll road, that means more homes and more people. Then again, people will complain about the same subject again. I commute everyday from San Clemente to Irvine five days a week. Does it suck sometimes with the traffic? Of course, but to see a great area of nature and great spot still there at the end of the day. I could not be any more happier and not some huge bridge I have to look at it. If people have such problem with traffic. Just moved east where there are areas with no traffic. Thank you COASTAL COMMITTEE ON SUPPORTING OUR COAST IN EVERY WAY.

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