PUBLIC SCOPING SR-241 TOLL ROAD EXTENSION OSO PARKWAY TO SD COUNTY LINECOMMENT IN OPPOSITION - Part 5I SUPPORT THE NO BUILD OPTIONDate: December 11, 2019 Dawn Urbanek, San Clemente Resident PUBLIC SCOPING COMMENT PART 5 DOCUMENTATION
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SUMMARY In Part 31 of Public Scoping Comments in Opposition to the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 from Oso Parkway to the Orange County/San Diego County Line; it was established that only one road is being constructed south of the Oso Parkway Bridge; a segment of the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 from Oso Parkway to Cow Camp Road with a 10% shift in alignment. The 10% shift in alignment brought the SR-241 Toll Road segment approximately 800 feet closer to Tesoro High School and the adjacent (SSHCP) Habitat Reserve. The 10% shift in alignment resulted in a loss of 87.8 acres from the Habitat Reserve and permanent loss of 0.174 acre (3,015 linear feet) of ephemeral streambed waters of the United States and/or State. The Habitat Reserve adjacent to Tesoro High School is covered by Orange County Southern Subregion Habitat Conservation Plan2 which is regulated by the US Department of the Interior, Fish and WIldlife and the Army Corps of Engineers in coordination with State Fish and Wildlife agencies. The SSHCP gives Rancho Mission Viejo flexibility to make minor changes to Ranch Plan projects within the covered area without having to re-open a new environmental review. For an amendment to the SSHCP to qualify as "minor" it must result in no net loss of Habitat Reserve acreage, and no long-term net loss of subregional habitat value. When the TCA was denied wastewater discharge permits to build the extension of the SR-241 toll road south of Oso Parkway bridge, the TCA, Caltrans, the County of Orange and Ranch Mission Viejo conspired to use 401 Certification Number R9-2014-01443 granted to Rancho Mission Viejo to build a County Arterial Highway (Los Patrones Parkway), to build the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 that was denied permits 5 times by three separate entities (the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, The California Coastal Commission, and the United States Secretary of Commerce)4 citing: "... impacts would be permanent, irreversible, and, for the most part, unmitigable". "No other alternative alignment poses the threat of unmitigable and irrevocable impacts of such magnitude". In order to use the "F" Street permit, Rancho Mission Viejo had to apply for a minor amendment to the alignment of F-Street5. Original "F" Street was designated a collector road that was going to run from Cow Camp Road north connecting to Tesoro Creek Drive (the driveway for Tesoro High School) terminating at Oso Parkway. The alignment of "F" Street was shifted approximately 800 feet to the east of Tesoro High School so that modified "F" Steet would have a direct connection to Oso Parkway at the at-grade existing intersections of the on and off-ramps from the SR-241 which terminated at Oso Parkway. A portion of "F" Street was previously permitted under United States Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) Section 404 Permit SPL 2013-00126-JPL6, San Diego Water Board section 401 Water Quality Certification No. R9- 2013-00367, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Streambed Alteration Agreement No. 1600-2006-0438-0006-R58. The "F" Street Project is also a Covered Activity under the San Juan Creek/Western San Mateo Creek Watershed Special Area Management Plan (SAMP)9 issued by the USAGE and Master Streambed Alteration Agreement (MSAA) issued by CDFW. In January 2015, Rancho Mission Viejo applied for a Letter of Permission Permit with the US Army Corps of Engineers asking for a minor amendment to SSHCP to shift the alignment of F Street by 10%. On July 16, 2015, US the Army Corps of Engineers Issued Rancho Mission Viejo Letter of Permission Permit SPL-2015-000545 with Special Conditions. The 10% shift in alignment of original "F" Street, coupled with the material omission; a toll road sized road was actually being built, not a County Arterial Highway does not qualify as a minor amendment. The Ranch disclosed the Fee Credit Agreement between Rancho Mission Viejo and the County of Orange, but failed to disclose other agreements10 which documented that Los Patrones Parkway was being funded by the TCA, built to toll road specifications; and had agreements in place to turn Los Patrones Parkway over to the County/TCA to be converted to a tolled segment of the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 upon completion. The construction of a toll road would result in a net Habitat loss of 87.8 acres with a permanent loss of 0.174 acre (3,015 linear feet) of ephemeral streambed waters of the United States and/or State11. The 10% shift in alignment violate the SSHCP. A new environmental review with Caltrans as the lead agency for NEPA is required prior to the construction of any segment of the SR-241 Toll Road south of Oso Parkway. |
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STATEMENT OF FACTS 1. There is only one road being built south of the Oso Parkway Bridge; it is the segment of the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 from Oso Parkway to Cow Camp Road, with scoping beginning for a third segment from Cow Camp Road to La Pata in the City of San Clemente. 2. There is no valid NEPA or CEQA for the construction of the SR-241 Toll road south of Oso Parkway.
3. In April 2015, Rancho Mission Viejo applied for a Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board San Diego Region: Certification Number R9-2014-01443. PROJECT DESCRIPTION "An application dated November 24, 2014 was submitted by Rancho Mission Viejo (RMV) (hereinafter Applicant), for Water Quality Certification pursuant to section 401 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1341) for the proposed "F" Street from "A" Street to Oso Parkway Project (Project). The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region (San Diego Water Board) deemed the application to be complete on April 9, 2015. The Applicant proposes to discharge dredged or fill material to waters of the United States and/or State associated with construction activity at the Project site. The Applicant has also applied for a Clean Water Act section 404 permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers for the Project (USACE File No. SPL-2015-00054)." "The Project covered by this certification is located at Rancho Mission Viejo, east of Interstate 5, and north of San Juan Creek, at 28811 Ortega Highway, in the City of San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. The Project center reading is located at latitude 33.562901 and longitude -117.609571 . The Applicant has paid all required fees for this Certification in the amount of $40,703. On April 9, 2015, the San Diego Water Board provided public notice of the Project application pursuant to California Code of Regulations, title 23, section 3858 by posting information describing the Project on the San Diego Water Board's web site and providing a period of twenty-one days for public review and comment. No comments were received." "The Applicant proposes to construct a new County of Orange arterial road called "F" Street that will extend approximately 5.5 miles from Cow Camp Road north to Oso Parkway, at the current terminus of State Route-241 (SR-241 ). In the future, "F" Street will be renamed to Los Patrones Parkway. "F" Street is not the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 that was denied waste discharge requirements by the San Diego Water Board in 2013 (in the proceedings on Tentative Order No. R9-2013-0007) or a facility related to the SR-241 and the Tesoro Extension is not covered by this Certification. "F" Street will be operated by the County of Orange as a free road . "F" Street is proposed to be a County of Orange Rural Secondary Highway, modified to include a raised median and a future community trail on the west side. "F" Street supports development of the Applicant's Planning Area 2 and Planning Area 3 projects, provides an alternate route to Antonio Parkway, and improves vehicle throughput to the SR-241 . On June 24, 2014, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement for Grant of Fee Credits with the Applicant, which will allow the County to grant fee credits to the Applicant and accept the road right-of-way and improvements if the Applicant constructs "F" Street." "As a modified Rural Secondary Highway, the roadway will consist of two twelve-foot through lanes, eight-foot shoulders in both directions, and a fixed median between approximately stations 1 05+00 and 230+00 that is 1 0-11 feet wide and widens to accommodate connections to "A" Street and Oso Parkway. South of "A" Street the median is up to 58 feet wide. "F" Street will have a design speed of 70 mph and a posted speed limit of 65 mph. This is consistent with the approved Letter of Geometric Alignment Recommendation and Geometric Approval Drawing referenced in the above-mentioned Fee Credit Agreement. At its northern terminus, "F" Street will connect to Oso Parkway at the at-grade existing intersections of the on and off-ramps from the SR-241. Local access to the north end of the Applicant's Planning Area 2 project from "F" Street will be via "A" Street, with access to "A" Street provided via a grade separated half-expressway-interchange, with access to and from the north. At its southern terminus, "F" Street will terminate at Cow Camp Road as an at-grade signalized teeintersection." "A portion of "F" Street, within the footprint of the Planning Area 2 project, was previously permitted under United States Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) Section 404 Permit SPL2013-00126-JPL, San Diego Water Board section 401 Water Quality Certification No. R9- 2013-0036, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Streambed Alteration Agreement No. 1600-2006-0438-0006-R5. The "F" Street Project is a Covered Activity under the San Juan Creek/Western San Mateo Creek Watershed Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) issued by the USAGE and Master Streambed Alteration Agreement (MSAA) issued by CDFW. It should be noted however that the current design has a different alignment than permitted in the SAMP and MSAA, includes multi-modal facilities (i.e., a trail), and has a different connection to Oso Parkway (direct connection to Oso Parkway instead of via Tesoro Creek Road)." "The Project will convert approximately 33 acres of pervious ground cover to impervious surfaces. Runoff leaving the developed Project area would be significantly greater in volume, velocity, peak flow rate, and duration than pre-development runoff from the same area without mitigation. Post-construction best management practices (BMPs) to manage and control the effects of these runoff increases from the Rural Secondary Highway will consist of combination basins with underdrains for treatment control, flood control and hydromodification control. Combination basins will be approximately 3 to 12 feet deep providing multiple stormwater control functions under different storm conditions. A total of eight (8) basins (Basins A-H) are proposed for the entire project, seven (7) of which are located between "A" Street and Oso Parkway (Basins B-H). These BMPs will be designed, constructed, and maintained to meet Orange County's Low Impact Development (LID) Capture Volume and hydromodification treatment requirements." |
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CONCLUSION Rancho Mission Viejo's application for a "minor amendment" to the SSHCP (a 10% shift in the alignment of original "F" Street) contained material omissions. The application did not state that there were agreements in place between Rancho Mission Viejo, the County of Orange and TCA/Caltrans which would allow the TCA to fund the construction of modified "F" street aka Los Patrones Parkway, design and build Los Patrones Parkway to toll road specifications and, when complete turn Los Patrones Parkway over to the TCA/Caltrans to be a 5.5 mile segment of the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 which was denied permits 5 times by three separate entities (the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, The California Coastal Commission, and the United States Secretary of Commerce) citing: "... impacts would be permanent, irreversible, and, for the most part, unmitigable". "No other alternative alignment poses the threat of unmitigable and irrevocable impacts of such magnitude" The 10% shift in alignment resulted in a loss of 87.8 acres from the Habitat Reserve, and permanent loss of 0.174 acre (3,015 linear feet) of ephemeral streambed waters of the United States and/or State resulting in unmitigated loss of Habitat Reserve acreage and permanent, irreversible and unmitigable loss of subregional habitat value in violation of the SSHCP. A new environmental review with Caltrans as the lead agency for NEPA is required for any construction of the SR-241 south of the Oso Parkway bridge. The 10% shift in alignment of SR-241 approximately 800 feet closer to Tesoro High School (a sensitive receptor); without any protective barriers, shows a callous disregard for the health and safety of Tesoro High School students and staff that must be mitigated. The Capistrano Unified School District should receive recompense for taxpayer property that has been placed into the Habitat Reserve, and for the four Parcels of land (125-096-59, 125-096-60, 125-096-69, 125-096-82) purchased by the Capistrano Unified School District to build Tesoro high school that were placed into the right-of-way for the SR-241 by entities that did not own them and had no right to encumber them. The Capistrano Unified School District should receive compensation of the value of the option they had on PA 2-North. |
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DOCUMENTATION 1 Public Scoping SR-241 Toll Road Extension Oso parkway to the San Diego/Orange County line - Comment in Opposition - Part 3 https://cusdwatch.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/1220-public-scoping-comment-part-3 2 U.S. FIsh and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish & Wildlife Office, Southern California Sub-Region HCP 3 California Regional Water Quality Control Board San Diego Region: Clean Water Act 401 Water Quality Certification and Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharge of Dredged and/or Fill Materials https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego/water_issues/programs/401_certification/docs/projects/2014/R9-2014-0144.pdf 4 Public Scoping SR-241 Toll Road Extension Oso parkway to the San Diego/Orange County line - Comment in Opposition - Part 1 https://cusdwatch.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/1218-public-scoping-comment-part-1 5 Letter of Permission Permit SPL 2015-00054. Waiting on a response to a December 11, 2019 Freedom of Information Act Request in order to obtain (1) Application from Laura Eisenberg- Rancho Mission Viejo and (2) Letter of Permission Permit SPL 2015-00054 that was issued with Special Conditions. https://permits.ops.usace.army.mil/orm-public#
6 Letter of Permission Permit SPL 2013-00126-JPL. https://permits.ops.usace.army.mil/orm-public#
7 California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region: Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification No. R9-2013-0036 for the Planning Area 2 Project https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/rwqcb9/water_issues/programs/401_certification/docs/projects/2013/R9-2013-0036.pdf 8 South Subregion Natural Community Conservation Plan / Master Streambed Alteration Agreement / Habitat Conservation Plan https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/Project/2006061140 9 San Juan Creek/Western San Mateo Creek Watershed SAMP (Orange County) https://www.spl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/SAMP-Permitting-and-Research/SAMP-Documents/ 10 Agreements to turn modified "F" Street over to Caltrans/TCA as the segment of SR-241 from Oso Parkway to ow Camp Road. Agreement for Grant of Fee Credits (Rancho Mission Viejo) Agreement N0. D14-034 Grant Deed to the County of Orange Irrevocable Offer to Convert Real Property and Memorandum of Fee Credit Agreement. November 8, 2016 Orange County Board of Supervisors Meeting Subject: Addendum to the July 18, 2006, Affordable Housing Agreement Rancho Mission Viejo 11 January 30, 2015 "Concurance with the Minor Amendment to the Orange County Southern Subregion Habitat Conservation Plan for the Modified F Street Project Orange County, California. |
