Vonne Barnes, San Clemente, RSCCA Board President
At the June 14 Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) board meeting in Irvine, residents spoke out against toll road “Idea 14” running through San Clemente.
Ghada Ghantous, Michelle Schumacher and Eva O’Keefe are to be commended for outing the TCA for the practice of imposing outrageous development impact fees (DIF) on residential and commercial properties in toll road zone areas.
Although the TCA has not constructed new toll roads in 22 years, DIF revenues now exceed $2.2 billion. To date, the TCA has not explained what happened to the funds nor why the agency fails to conduct an annual review of DIFs as mandated in the agency’s Joint Powers Agreement rules. In fact, in 1997 the TCA approved automatic annual DIF increases of 2.667 percent, according to The Toll Roads website.
Special thanks to TCA board member Kathy Ward, a San Clemente City Councilmember, who directed TCA staff to post environmental impact reports related to toll extensions through San Clemente on the TCA website, as requested by me, in order to enable the TCA board to make balanced and informed decisions regarding impacts of toll road development through the community.
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