The Orange County Transportation Authority needed to do more to help downtown Santa Ana businesses disrupted by the construction of the long-delayed OC Streetcar, the Orange County Grand Jury said in a report released Wednesday, adding it’s unclear what level of support there is for the light rail project.
The grand jury looked at all of what OCTA does, from buses to freeways, but focused on the OC Streetcar project and the San Clemente rail disruptions after receiving complaints from residents.
Overall, the grand jury said it found OCTA “has generally delivered its transportation projects successfully,” and its slogan “Promises Made, Promises Kept” is mostly accurate, with some exceptions.
The grand jury was most critical of the four-mile OC Streetcar project and said endeavors of that magnitude need to be better planned and executed to benefit a larger portion of Orange County.
A decade ago, the OC Streetcar was expected to be in service by 2019 and cost $250 million.
Neither of those remains the case. It’s now set to start moving passengers in 2026, and the latest price tag has hit $649 million (more than $455 million is funded by state and federal sources), but jurors identified several reasons for delays out of OCTA’s control.
“The impact of the OC Streetcar project construction has been devastating to downtown Santa Ana businesses,” the grand jury said, with “confusing street closures” due to a “hopscotch method of construction” resulting in customers being unable to reach businesses affected.
A business interruption fund could have been helpful to Santa Ana business owners throughout the many years of delayed construction. OCTA officials told the grand jury that it’s illegal to use public funds for this type of program, but jurors noted that LA Metro found a way to develop its own, giving $10 million annually to businesses.
The grand jury has asked OCTA to develop a business interruption fund by the end of the year to assist business owners whose livelihoods are disrupted by major transportation projects in the future.
After looking into the project, grand jury members said they were left unsure how much support there is from residents and businesses for OC Streetcar.
“Despite OCTA’s oft-repeated statement that ‘this is what Santa Ana wanted,’ the grand jury is uncertain that Santa Ana would have been as eager to proceed with this project had the city known there would be this level of construction delays, continuing cost overruns, monetary damages to local businesses, and an unknown completion date,” the grand jury wrote.
The grand jury also reviewed how the OCTA is handling repairs for the often-disrupted rail service through San Clemente. OCTA has made good-faith efforts to listen to all stakeholders and has adjusted its approach to repairs of the tracks based on those discussions, the report says.
More than 7 million people a year ride on the rail line that runs from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. Since 2021, track closures have become common because of landslides where it runs oceanfront through San Clemente. Crashing waves where the beach has eroded have also damaged the track in some sections.
That’s a new development, the grand jury said. From the 1880s to 2020, there were only three track closures caused by environmental issues.
There’s no consensus on what could be causing the landslides, but possibilities include groundwater seeping out of the hillsides, beach erosion, over-irrigation by homeowners and heavy rainfall, according to the grand jury.
The grand jury asked the OCTA to dedicate more resources to investigating where sand can be sourced and moved easily so it can play a larger role in railroad track fortification. While revetments of large rocks can be put down faster and cheaper, environmental groups and the city of San Clemente want sand to be used to help widen beaches and the OCTA is making it a bigger part of the short-term strategy.
OCTA spokesperson Eric Carpenter, in an email, said the agency appreciated the grand jury’s review and its officials were “encouraged by the report’s recognition of OCTA’s strong governance practices, fiscal responsibility, and our commitment to delivering a safe, efficient, and innovative multi-modal transportation system for Orange County.”
“Regarding the recommendations, we have been transparent all along about the challenges of building our county’s first modern electric streetcar and the unprecedented challenges brought by the environmental emergencies faced along the rail line in San Clemente,” Carpenter said. “We continue to work with the community and all stakeholders to find the best solutions and to advance those projects.”
The OCTA Board of Directors will issue a formal response as required within 90 days to the grand jury’s recommendations, he said.
Not making the San Clemente rail issue easier for the OCTA is the California Coastal Commission’s permitting process, grand jurors found.
While OCTA can make immediate repairs with an emergency permit, the Coastal Commission’s typical process does not prioritize public infrastructure over the other types of private developments it also issues permits for, such as homes and hotels.
The entire permitting process can take up to two years with the Coastal Commission, according to the grand jury. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, introduced a bill this year to allow local governments along the corridor to declare an environmental emergency, which would help OCTA obtain an emergency permit more easily.
The rail line is critical beyond just moving people through Southern California on both Metrolink and Amtrak trains. The Department of Defense considers it critical infrastructure for the military and more than $1 billion of goods a year are moved on the rail line.
The OCTA has a $1.7 billion budget and oversees much of the county’s transit systems and freeway projects.
It currently has four freeway projects under construction and another 11 in design or development. But after 2030, no new freeway widening projects are planned.
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