Light rail’s ‘future’ to be decided in Irvine

Deirdre Newman

Irvine residents could knock their city off the proposed light-rail

tracks when they go to the voting booth on Tuesday.

The CenterLine project calls for an 11.4-mile light rail system to

connect Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Irvine.

Next week, Irvine voters will face two choices on the ballot:

Measure A is for the light rail, and Measure B is against it.

If the project dies in Irvine, it will be up to the Orange County

Transportation Authority board to decide how to proceed. Other Orange

County cities have expressed interest in jumping aboard once the

initial three-city route is up and running.

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Libby Cowan expressed her hope that Irvine

voters take a long-term view of the project.

“I certainly hope that the Irvine residents look to the future and

understand the importance of this to the county transportation

system, even though it may not look important to them today,” Cowan

said. “In the long run -- in 20 to 30 years -- it will be an integral

part of our transportation system.”

Opposition to the light rail in Irvine started in the Woodbridge

community, but that area of the project was deleted from the route

and from the city’s general plan.

The Irvine City Council still approved the Woodbridge residents’

proposal to put an initiative on the ballot without any petitions,

said Jeri Stately, Irvine’s city clerk. The City Council also puts

its own initiative on the ballot for the project.

Two coalitions have formed in the county to explore joining the

light rail project. The northern coalition involves La Habra and

Fullerton. The western coalition includes Garden Grove and Huntington

Beach.

The original 28-mile route was supposed to start in Fullerton. The

light rail project was tabled in 2001 because of jurisdictional

issues.

Fullerton City Manager Chris Meyer said that if the project is

derailed in Irvine, Fullerton officials would be interested in

reconsidering their participation.

“If the central route does not move forward, we would be very

interested in once again examining the underlying premises of the

northern route to see whether or not it needed to be tweaked or

whether or not the proposed plan was OK as it was,” Meyer said.

One way to get from Fullerton to Santa Ana is through Anaheim,

which was also part of the original route and also pulled out.

John Nicoletti, the city’s public information manager, said that

since a majority of the City Council was elected in November, the new

council has not taken a position on the light rail project.

Tim Keenan, chair of the authority board, said the board hasn’t

thought too much about what happens if Irvine voters reject the

project because they are confident it will succeed.

“I will say it would make things problematic from this point on if

the Irvine voters turn it down,” Keenan said. “I think there’s enough

support.”

But just in case, Art Leahy, chief executive of the authority, is

preparing some alternatives, Keenan said.

Some of the options include starting the light rail with only

Santa Ana and Costa Mesa or continuing north or west from John Wayne

Airport instead of east to Irvine, Keenan said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].