City gets OCTA to halt bridge study

Deirdre Newman

City officials have persuaded the county to postpone a decision to

give Fountain Valley money to study plans for the often-debated

Gisler Avenue bridge.

City leaders have been struggling to get this bridge and one

proposed for 19th Street removed from county plans for the past 10

years.

The board was poised Monday to consider a recommendation by one of

the authority’s committees to approve funding for an environmental

report of the bridge. Coaxing by Costa Mesa officials quashed any

discussion.

Instead, the Orange County Transportation Authority decided to

schedule a meeting with officials from all four cities that are

affected by the potential bridges -- Costa Mesa, Newport Beach,

Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach -- to try once again to achieve

at least a modicum of agreement.

While Fountain Valley officials say they are amenable to talking

with the other cities, they contend that consensus is not possible

until the report has been completed.

“I think you have to find out if the bridge is feasible to be

built physically, financially and environmentally,” Fountain Valley

City Manager Ray Kromer said.

Even if it is feasible, it still would not be palatable to Costa

Mesa residents, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

“It’s not like all of a sudden, we’re going to wake up and say,

‘Oh my gosh, fine, great, go ahead,’” Roeder said. “That’s a day I

don’t envision happening.”

The two bridges at issue would connect Gisler Avenue to Garfield

Street, which divides Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley; and 19th

Street to Banning Avenue in Huntington Beach. The bridges are on the

county’s master plan as a means of easing traffic congestion.

Costa Mesa officials say they oppose the bridges because they

would harm nearby residential areas, schools and parks. They are also

concerned that the bridges could harm wetlands and biological

resources along the Santa Ana River bed.

The four cities agreed to work toward deleting the bridges when

they started the Santa Ana River Crossings Study in 1993. But in

December, Fountain Valley requested grant funds from the authority

for preliminary and final design of the Gisler Avenue bridge.

In response, the Costa Mesa City Council passed an emergency

resolution to fast-track a bridge-less solution that would be

agreeable to all parties.

That solution, passed July 21, calls for reiterating the city’s

opposition to the bridges, adopting traffic alleviation measures that

could eliminate the need for the bridges and asking the authority to

certify the Santa Ana River Crossing environmental report.

It also says the bridges should be kept on the master plan for now

but that the participating cities should not assume the two bridges

will be built when considering long-term planning studies,

developments and land-use assumptions.

The Huntington Beach City Council approved the same plan on Aug.

18.

Fountain Valley and Newport Beach have not approved the plan.

Newport Beach is receptive to working with Costa Mesa on reducing

traffic so the 19th Street Bridge is unnecessary, said Steve Badum,

Newport’s public works director.