TITLE
Recommendation to request the City Attorney to draft a resolution opposing the Foothill-South Toll Road on California State Parks property; and to direct the City to refrain from acquiring any bonds for, or making other financial investments in, the Foothill-South Toll Road.
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach embraced ”sustainability” as the basic guiding precept of the 2010 Strategic Plan. Specifically, the 2010 Plan established as an environmental goal to encourage public environmental education, awareness and involvement in areas such as air and water quality, the deleterious impacts of automobile reliance, and the unintended consequences of unchecked population growth. (El .7) The 201 0 Plan also encouraged collaboration in regional efforts to reduce pollution and to work with neighboring cities and agencies to identify and purchase land for wetlands and bird fly zones. The City’s 201 0 Strategic Plan clearly encourages the City Council to take appropriate actions on regional environmental issues. One such project that should be of interest to the residents of Long Beach is a proposed toll road, called the Foothill-South Toll Road, that would run over four miles in length through the heart of the nearly 1,200 acre of San Onofre State Beach. California state park lands are designated for their protection and preservation on behalf of future generations and should not be warehoused for later development in a manner inconsistent with state park purposes. Similar to the City’s policy of sustainability, protection of state park lands is a matter of paramount statewide concern, which requires that these lands not
become the least costly alternative for major infrastructure projects deemed to be necessary for uses inconsistent with state park purposes. On November 18, 2005, the California State Park and Recreation Commission, in a resolution entitled “Opposing a Proposed Toll Road Alignment and Request for Action to Protect San Onofre State Beach,” reaffirmed...
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