Supporters of the Foothill South testified that the road is needed to accommodate development in southern Orange County and take some of the burden off Interstate 5, the heaviest traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Officials of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, the organization based in Irvine that operates the toll roads, said steps would be taken to protect San Onofre's sensitive wildlife habitat.
The road should not affect San Onofre's surf spots, they added. Tollway officials also contend that the park's quality already has been degraded by nearby utility towers, a nuclear power plant, railroad trestles near the beach as well as I-5 and Christianitos Road.
The alternative to building the road -- widening the interstate -- would destroy more than 1,230 homes and businesses and be too costly for the state to build, they assert.
"The 241 will provide congestion relief in one of our most important transportation corridors in the state," said Tom Margrow, the TCA's chief executive.
Opponents countered that the road would destroy habitat for half a dozen threatened or endangered species, including the Pacific pocket mouse. They also said it would degrade a popular campground and create a concrete eyesore in the center of the park, which stretches from coastal bluffs to inland canyons.
Surfers worry that the road could block erosion from the San Mateo Creek watershed, which they believe contributes to the world-class surfing conditions at Trestles, a venue for major contests.
In September, the Coastal Commission's staff recommended against approval of the project.
Its 236-page report conflicts with assertions from the TCA that the proposed route is the least harmful to the park out of eight options. The commission staff report said it was hard to imagine a more environmentally damaging route.
Mark Delaplaine, who directed the commission's staff analysis, said the highway would violate provisions of the Coastal Act related to endangered species, wetlands, public access, recreation, surfing, Indian sites and greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency, he said, has not adequately considered alternatives to the Foothill South, such as improving Interstate 5, a possibility the TCA ruled out as too costly for the state.
Peter Douglas, the commission's longtime executive director, said the "toll road project is not only inconsistent with the law, it also raises fundamental questions about what of kind of environmental and social future we want for our coastal communities, our families, our children and theirs."
Environmentalists also said that studies show that widening I-5 can accommodate traffic growth as well as the tollway and be accomplished using innovative designs that vastly reduce the need to condemn property.
The TCA has not adequately studied the alternative, they say.
"This is important for San Onofre and all other state parks that are being eyed for infrastructure development," testified Elizabeth Goldstein, executive director of the State Parks Foundation. "If the toll road is permitted to proceed, we will all be spending decades in rooms like this all across the state fighting to protect yet another special place."
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