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Commerce Dept. sets hearing date for San Onofre Toll Road appeal

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 25, 2008 at 8:06 pm

From the O. C. Register:

The U.S. Commerce Department has set July 24 or 25 for a hearing on a proposed toll road in southern Orange County. The hearing would be held at the Bren Events Center at the University of California, Irvine, according to an email sent Wednesday to key people involved in the controversy.

The proposal to build the 16-mile Foothill South toll road, an extension of the 241 toll road, was struck down by the state Coastal Commission in February after a marathon hearing that drew thousands. But the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency appealed the decision to the Commerce Department. Such appeals are allowed under the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act. If the Commerce Secretary finds that the toll road is consistent with the federal act, or matches some larger federal policy objective, such as national security, he can override the state agency’s decision.

Representatives of both the toll road opponents and the toll agency said Wednesday they approved of the hearing date and time.

“E-mail, phone calls, postcards, our supporters will make sure to get the word out about this,” said Mark Rauscher of the Surfrider Foundation, which coordinated much of the opponents’ presence at the February hearing in Del Mar.

A spokeswoman for the toll agency, Jennifer Seaton, said she expects the road’s supporters to turn out in force as well. “This is another good opportunity to get the facts out on the project,” she said. “Hopefully, since it is located more closely to the communities impacted by the project, we’ll have a great turnout of supporters.”