IRVINE : Council Reluctantly Puts Road in City Plan

The City Council voted early Wednesday morning to amend the General Plan to include a road that council members and most of the 250 community members who attended the 8 1/2-hour meeting hope will never be built.

Councilwoman Paula Werner said she was approving plans for the road “under extreme duress” from county officials who warned that they would withhold millions of dollars in transportation funds for the city if a toll-free bypass route to Newport Coast Drive was not chosen and included on the city planning document.

Designating the route is intended to bring the city into compliance with the county’s master plan for arterial highways. But opponents of plans to include a 1 1/2-mile section of Newport Coast Drive in the planned San Joaquin Hills toll road say the city is being blackmailed into supporting the illegal seizure of part of a public road.

“It’s illegal to put a toll on Newport Coast Drive,” attorney Jim Toledano said to council members Tuesday night. Toledano represents the Newport Coast Drive Defense Fund, which filed a lawsuit in September against the Transportation Corridor Agencies’ plans to put toll booths on part of Newport Coast Drive. “If the lawsuit succeeds, there will be no need for any alternative” route.

Debate over two proposed bypass routes has divided the city, with residents in Turtle Rock Village and University Hills battling each other during two previous Planning Commission meetings. Both communities fear increased noise and traffic in their neighborhoods if the road comes too close to their areas.

The City Council sided with Turtle Rock residents in approving a $17.5-million bypass route that runs closer to the campus. The council rejected a proposed route that would have connected Newport Coast and Culver drives. But council members made it clear they hope the road will never be built.

“The county is going to have to build it,” said Mayor Michael Ward. “We’re not going to build it--ever.”