Posted: October 4th, 2007

THE CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION HAS MOVED THE HEARING DATE TO FEBRUARY 6 2008. VISIT SAVEPANHE.ORG AND SAVESANONOFRE.ORG.

After a blistering staff report concluded that a planned toll road through San Onofre State Beach would violate the state’s coastal act, the California Coastal Commission has agreed to postpone its decision on the road at the request of its proponents. Read the L.A. Times coverage.

Help save San Onofre State Beach and protect the people’s right to reach the beach by opposing the proposed toll road extension there. The California Coastal Commission should follow its staff’s recommendation and deny certification of the project.

The proposed six-lane toll road through San Onofre State Beach would violate environmental, environmental justice, and civil rights laws, compromise sacred Native American grounds, harm recreation including hiking, camping, and surfing, threaten endangered species, diminish precious coastal open space, and impair panoramic views of the ocean, as documented in the staff analysis.

With 2.7 million visitors a year, San Onofre is an affordable coastal haven for middle- and low-income families throughout the region, and the fifth-most popular destination in the state’s 278-park system.

The toll road will discriminate against the working poor with limited or no access to a car, people of color, and low income communities in several ways. First, these communities disproportionately cannot afford to pay tolls for commuter or recreational travel. Second, the toll road through the park will disproportionately deprive them of affordable world class recreation and access to a public beach. San Onofre provides such opportunities at the San Mateo Campground, on hiking trails, and through surfing at Trestles.

The toll road adversely impacts Native Americans and cultural resources and archaeological sites. Panhe, a 4,000-year-old village of the Acjachemen/Juaneño people, will be severely and irreparably impacted by the proposed route. The sacred site is used today for religious and cultural activities. The ceremonial site is in a pristine natural state, with the stars easily visible at night. The Acjachemen are often called star people for their ancient knowledge of the stars. The proposed toll road will impact their access and ability to practice their religion. The toll road will impair their First Amendment rights including freedom of religion, freedom of association, and beach access. The Acjachemen/Juaneño Band of Mission Indians passed a resolution supporting the protection of Panhe and the tribe’s full sovereign participation in any and all land and water use decisions likely to impact the village on May 19, 2007.

The religious, cultural, recreational, and environmental benefits outweigh the need for the toll road through the park. The toll road will not relieve congestion. Building roads to relieve congestion is like adding another hole to your belt to lose weight. New roads trigger latent demand which results in as much congestion as before or more.

Toll road and beach access issues are analyzed in Robert García and Erica Flores Baltodano, Free the Beach! Equal Justice, Public Access, and the California Coast in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and in the short four page Policy Brief. Visit the beach mashup on flickr and Google Earth.

Sample letter to Peter Kruer, Chair, California Coastal Commission.

Mr. Patrick Kruer, Chair
California Coastal Commission
45 Fremont Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-904-5400 (Fax)

Read the San Onofre Coastal Commission Staff Report.

Read the L.A. Times coverage.