Debate over proposed San Onofre toll road to continue with appeal hearing
More than 650 people are scheduled to speak before an attorney with the U.S. Department of Commerce, whose secretary can override an earlier rejection of the plan by a state commission.
Seven months after thousands poured into the Del Mar Fairgrounds for a raucous state Coastal Commission hearing on whether to build a 16-mile toll road through a state park in north San Diego County, both sides are set to be back at it today.
Repeat or not, the stakes remain high. Advocates say the toll road is critical to untangling freeway congestion across the region, while opponents contend it will be ruinous to one of the state's most popular coastal parks and famed surf spots.
The latest round in the byzantine battle is a much-anticipated 10-hour appeal hearing before an attorney with the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Commerce secretary can override the February decision by the Coastal Commission to reject plans for the tollway.
Although the setting is familiar and the players much the same, today's reunion won't end with a dramatic decision -- Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez has until January to announce his determination. And unlike February's lively gathering that some disparaged as a circus, federal officials have instituted strict rules on who is allowed to speak, and for how long; banned booing and cheering; and limited the size of signs -- which can't be waved -- to 2 feet wide.
Those restrictions notwithstanding, 657 people are registered to speak on the proposed turnpike, which has enraged environmentalists and rallied transportation planners from south Orange County to Washington, D.C. What originated as a routine transportation scheme more than 20 years ago has mushroomed into an emotional debate about the demands of growth versus the importance of protecting parks.
"The impacts of this toll road project are monumental -- it's hard to fathom how big they really are," said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the nonprofit California State Parks Foundation.
"This project has come to symbolize the threats that exist to our state parks," she said. "Californians believe that when a park becomes a state park, that it's protected forever. Despite that belief, this project has really brought into clear focus . . . that is not true."
The issue has unleashed reams of competing legal opinions, government letters, scientific studies, opinion polls, advertisements and propaganda from both sides.
