FULLERTON : New Lawsuit Filed Against Road Project

Members of a residents group this week filed a new lawsuit in an ongoing attempt to stop city road-widening projects.

Leaders of the Save Our Bastanchury group filed suit Thursday in Superior Court to halt city officials from doing work on a pair of street improvement projects to allow the group time to qualify an initiative for the city ballot restricting such projects. The group contends that widening Bastanchury Road and making a series of improvements to Euclid Street will increase congestion and noise beyond acceptable limits.

Fullerton is in the final funding stage for the Euclid project and in the midst of purchasing right-of-way property for the Bastanchury project, said Hugh Berry, the city’s director of Engineering and Community Development.

In order to qualify for federal and county funding to help pay for road programs, the city must initiate right-of-way purchases for the Bastanchury project by June and award the construction contracts for the Euclid project by September. But Berry said those deadlines are usually extended if legal action is taken to delay the projects.

Mary B. Homme and John D. Bastian, leaders of the group who filed the suit Thursday, formed Save Our Bastanchury last year.

In January, the group began the steps needed to qualify a measure for the ballot that would restrict road improvements if the resulting traffic created noise above the limits outlined in the city’s general plan.

But the necessary signature drive stalled before it began when the group challenged the city attorney’s summary of the proposed ballot measure. Homme and Bastian said the summary was biased and filed suit to force the city attorney to rewrite it. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Thursday.

If the group’s latest suit succeeds, it would put the Bastanchury and Euclid projects on hold until the group’s initiative effort is complete, probably until after the November election.