California Coast & Ocean

How Protected Are State Parks?
Beyond the issue of the best ways to accommodate highway traffic, what's at stake at San Onofre State Beach is a much larger principle. If a highway is allowed to be cut through this state park, what's to stop other state parks, preserves, and cultural heritage sites from being targeted for transportation improvements? Open land may look like the easiest way to go in other cases, too. So what does “in perpetuity” mean? What protection do state parks have against ever-intensifying development pressures?

In March 2006, State Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed two suits in California Superior Court in San Diego County to stop the road, one on behalf of the State Park and Recreation Commission, the other on behalf of the Native American Heritage Commission. A third suit was filed the same day by a coalition of conservation organizations that includes the Sierra Club, NRDC, Parks Foundation, Sea and Sage Audubon Society, Laguna Greenbelt, Inc., Endangered Habitats League, and Surfrider Foundation. The Park Commission and conservationists' suits alleged that the TCA violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to adequately assess the road's environmental impacts, identify mitigation measures, and properly study alternatives that would cause less environmental harm. The Heritage Commission suit contends that the TCA violated laws that prohibit public agencies from causing damage to Native American historical and ceremonial sites located on public property. As of late March 2007, a State Court of Appeals judge in San Diego was considering whether the venue should be moved to Orange County.

Even if the lawsuits fail, the TCA must obtain permits for the toll road from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Coastal Commission, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board, among others. The Navy must also grant permission for the road to run through its property.

Many people who live in this region care deeply about what happens to this last intact piece of open land, and many have come to its defense. Surfers from around the world have expressed their concern about the potential damage to Trestles. Local and national organizations have campaigned against the road, rallying citizens to write letters and turn out for meetings. The Parks Foundation is studying possible legislative options, and has joined Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club, NRDC, Audubon California, Endangered Habitats League, and Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. in a coalition called Save San Onofre (www.savesanonofre.com; the TCA's website with information about Foothill-South is www.ftcsouth.com).

But many people who live in the region spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, and local political support for the toll road is also strong. To date, the TCA has defeated legislative attempts to protect the park and convinced Congress to pass special legislation and federal officials to grant exemptions favoring the toll road (see sidebar).

On February 23, California Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) introduced AB 1457, which would prohibit state or local agencies from building roads on state parkland except under very restricted conditions. The bill is scheduled for its first hearing, in the Assembly's policy committee, on April 18. Similar legislation has been proposed a number of times over the years, but so far none has been passed.