It is important to pave roads and highways to provide vital services to inhabited areas, but what the Transportation Corridor Agency has in mind for San Onofre State Beach is definitely not necessary or popular.
The Foothill-South SR-241 toll road extension will do nothing to reduce rush-hour traffic congestion on the Interstate 5, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority’s long-range plan for 2006 but will be destructive to the environment and state parkland around it.
The main problem I have with this project is its implications for the future of the parkland. According to the 1997 mitigation assessment of the toll road’s impacts on San Onofre State Beach, the California Department of Parks and Recreation says it will be forced to abandon more than 60 percent of San Onofre State Beach after the toll road’s construction. The Transportation Corridor Agency gained exemption from the Federal Highway Transportation Act Section 4S, which would have forced it to prove there are no alternatives to building through state parkland, through an obscure rider in Section 2851 of the 2000-2001 Federal Defense Appropriations Bill.
This is sickening. We have all heard of unnecessary appropriations being stuck into huge bills in Congress, and this is no exception. If the TCA could obey the laws set in place by the Department of Transportation, would it have sought an exemption? Hardly. Regulation on the development of state parklands is now in jeopardy and will set a precedent for future parkland to be paved over for the interests of private organizations nationwide. On the surface, these profit-based projects look appealing to the Monday morning businessperson sitting in rush hour, but as was proved with this toll road, they may never benefit the public.
The myth is that San Onofre State Beach does not really belong to the California Department of Parks and Recreation because it was given to the state agency by the U.S. Navy under a 50-year lease. The Navy issued the lease, but California law under section 11011.7 specifically states the intent and jurisdiction of the San Onofre parkland: "All real property acquired for park and recreation purposes by the state which was formerly part of Camp Pendleton shall be used solely for park and recreation purposes, and no part thereof shall be declared surplus or disposed of."
The park is important to the San Diego community. San Onofre State Beach is the fifth most-visited California state park. The California parks department stresses that San Onofre State Beach and the adjacent Donna O-Neil Land Conservancy are homes to numerous archaeological sites; the popular San Mateo Campgrounds as well as other recreation areas; Trestles Beach, home to internationally renowned epic surf; and almost a dozen federally listed endangered species that will be displaced directly due to the toll road’s adverse affects.
Numerous cities, such as Los Angeles, Laguna Beach and San Francisco have voted against construction for the road. Former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed suit against the TCA in 2006. Environmental groups are fighting back, including the Surfrider Foundation, the National Resources Defense Council and the California Coastal Commission.
I agree with Bill Hickman, coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego chapter, when he says, "It’s such a rare thing to have the experience of walking on natural land and undeveloped beach. Deep down, I know it’s something that needs to be saved."
Get involved. Save Trestles!
Kenneth Pico is a 16-year-old junior at High Tech High Media Arts. This editorial will be featured at the his school’s exposition of student projects Thursday, March 29, at 6 p.m.
