DEL MAR -- — The California Coastal Commission handed environmentalists a major victory and rejected the pleas of motorists Wednesday, voting down plans to build a six-lane toll road through San Onofre State Beach, a popular preserve in north San Diego County known for its scenery and famous surf spots.
Before a boisterous crowd of more than 3,500 people, commissioners decided 8 to 2 that the proposed Foothill South project violates the California Coastal Act, which is designed to regulate development along the state's 1,100-mile shoreline. They reached the conclusion following hours of sometimes heated public testimony that pitted protecting the environment against the need to relieve traffic congestion in south Orange County.
The decision was a major setback for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which has spent years and tens of millions of dollars preparing to construct the 16-mile tollway as an alternative to Interstate 5.
Tollway officials can appeal the commission's decision to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce because San Onofre State Beach sits on leased federal land within the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.
Commission officials say that since 1977, there have been 13 such appeals, mostly by oil companies. About half the decisions were overturned.
The vote followed hours of testimony from the crowd, of whom 2,500 made formal requests to speak, the largest number for a hearing in the commission's more than 30 years of operation.
Some arrived by bus, brought by surf-industry companies opposed to the project. Others came as members of construction unions that support it. Some in the crowd carried surfboards as a symbol of protest. Others dressed as if attending a long-awaited football game.
The noisy crowd sat in rows of chairs and banks of bleachers at the rear of Wyland Hall at Del Mar Fairgrounds to participate in a long-awaited showdown over a road proposal that has generated intense public interest across the state. The controversy has drawn in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who endorsed the road in January, other statewide elected officials and local governments across Southern California.
After almost seven hours of public testimony, commissioners still had not made a decision. The panel could postpone its decision.
At issue is where to draw the line between protecting the environment and building highways to ease congestion. Some suggest the fate of the road will go far to shape future decisions on where highways can be built.
