Dispute Over Bird Habitats Snarls Bills on Tollways

SACRAMENTO â€”  State Sen. John Seymour’s on-again/off-again legislation to advance the county’s proposed toll roads has hit another snag: birds of prey.

Committee action on Seymour’s legislation--two bills that would enable the state to pay for maintenance of the roads after they are built with money from tolls, developer fees and other funds--was delayed Monday by negotiations over birds whose prime habitat is near the Eastern and Foothill toll-road routes.

Seymour, an Anaheim Republican, said the latest stumbling block involves whether the Irvine Co. will agree to donate up to 5,300 acres of land in the Limestone Canyon area east of Orange to provide foraging and nesting grounds for birds--mainly red-shouldered hawks--whose habitat may be affected by the roads.

Seymour said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, asked him to accept amendments that would require the county developer to give up its land for the birds. Seymour refused, saying that such a deal should be negotiated between the government and the company, not required by law.

But Gary Hunt, an Irvine Co. vice president, said Monday that the firm already intended to donate the land in question for a regional park and is trying to hammer out the details by Thursday, when the transportation committee again is scheduled to consider Seymour’s bills.

Hunt said the key issue will be whether the Irvine Co. can get assurances that whatever land it might forfeit now would still be considered later to compensate for damage the company’s developments or the toll roads might do to the environment in the area.

5,300 Acres as Open Space

“We have told the assemblyman that, given the resolution of all the other issues involved in the dedication of this land at the local level, the company is fully prepared to dedicate the 5,300 acres as open space,� Hunt said.

Katz, who said birds of prey are a “fascination� of his, said he saw an opportunity to ensure a habitat for the raptors after a country biologist told him of the talks regarding the land. Katz said he wanted to have the land dedicated to the public as soon as possible so none of it will be “traded away down the road.�

Katz also persuaded the Irvine Co. to give up a section in the center of the parcel that the firm had planned to keep for future development.

“What you had was several factors coming together all at once,� Katz said. “You have a road, open space and prime raptor habitat, and they’re all in the same area. It makes sense that they ought to be linked together.�

Seymour said Monday he would agree to accept the deal as part of his bills if “all parties have signed off on it.�

‘It’s a Lousy Precedent’

“I think it’s a lousy precedent, but if that’s the way they want to do it, fine,� Seymour said.

Even if Seymour can overcome the latest threat to his bills and get them through the Assembly, further obstacles wait in the Senate, where former supporters of the measures have vowed to fight, now that Seymour has said the toll roads may need some state money for construction.

Although the Legislature approved a Seymour measure authorizing the toll roads last year, this year’s bills are needed to ease the way for the sale of bonds that will be used to pay for building the roads, Seymour said.