Solution to Trash Traffic on Ortega

The San Juan Capistrano City Council is opposed to trash importation and always has been. (“Only Opposition to Trash Import Plan Is Dropped,” Sept. 12.)

The most significant impact on San Juan Capistrano from importation is not what goes on at the Prima Deshecha Landfill. The most significant impact is increased traffic on Ortega Highway.

Trash importation adds 100 more trucks to the Ortega traffic and further aggravates the problem. When the state Legislature granted the county permission to import trash to the landfill without the required environmental review process, our hopes to prevent importation ended.

Instead of suing to create delays for a short period of time, the City Council decided to leverage our position to solve the problem.

What the City Council has extracted from the county in our agreement on importation helps solve the problem. Traffic on the Ortega will get better, not worse. The agreement prohibits the county from importing trash until January, 1997.

The agreement requires that the county must connect Antonio Parkway to Ortega Highway by 1999 to import trash. Extending Antonio Parkway will divert 5,000 vehicle trips each day from the Ortega. Trash importation will add 100 vehicle trips each day to the Ortega. It is simple: The agreement with the county will result in 4,900 fewer vehicle trips each day on the Ortega.

The agreement requires Orange County to pay San Juan Capistrano 81 cents a ton for the imported trash. The money will be used to add traffic enforcement and road improvements to the Ortega. That will be as much as $440,000 annually.

WYATT T. HART

Mayor Pro Tem

San Juan Capistrano