Countywide : Stanton Rail Link Is Dealt 2nd Setback

A proposed elevated urban rail network through central and north Orange County should not send trains behind homes in La Palma, the City Council unanimously voted this week.

The council’s decision Tuesday echoes last week’s vote by the Cypress City Council to oppose one of two possible urban rail routes that mass transit planners hope will one day create a viable alternative to clogged freeways.

County transportation officials are expected to decide next month which of two routes merit further study as a link between the county’s proposed rail system and Los Angeles County’s Green Line now under construction.

If Orange County eventually builds the proposed 47-mile rail system, the trains would connect to the Green Line either via a route from Stanton to Cerritos along the right of way used from 1901 to 1950 by the Red Car electric trolley line, or from Fullerton to Norwalk along an existing Amtrak commuter rail line.

The La Palma City Council held a public meeting Tuesday night to hear residents’ views on the proposed Stanton route, which would pass through residential neighborhoods along the south end of the city where La Palma borders Cypress.

Of the 12 residents who spoke, all opposed a route through La Palma.

“If we have an option to say no, we should say no,” said Stephen Curtis, whose back-yard fence of his $375,000 home is 20 feet from the railroad tracks. Freight trains pass behind his house a few times a week, Curtis said, but he said he objects to commuter trains running past every 20 minutes.

A consortium of nine north and central Orange County cities pushing for an urban rail system is scheduled to meet June 24 to consider which of the two links to Los Angeles should be studied further.

The consortium, the Orange County Fixed Guideway Agency, will then make a recommendation to the Orange County Transportation Authority, which will decide which route warrants further study, said Kay Van Sickel, the transit authority’s transit programs manager.

So far, the best of the two routes appears to be the Fullerton-to-Norwalk line, Sickel said. If the Orange County Transportation Authority board chooses that route for further study, the Stanton route through La Palma and Cypress will not be considered, she said.