Coastal Commission Rejects the Toll Road

Courtesy of Mark Massara, Director, Sierra Club Coastal Program

After a 12-hour hearing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to reject the Foothill-South Toll Road and to save San Onofre State Beach. They voted to save Trestles Beach, one of the most iconic and legendary surfing spots in the world. They voted to protect San Onofre State Park, and in doing so stood up for our entire California state park system. They voted to preserve the San Mateo campground, one of the last affordable family campgrounds in Southern California. And they voted to protect California's remaining open space, endangered species and coastal resources in the face of money-driven corporate developers.

In the end, the toll road was stopped because over 3,000 people turned out at the hearing yesterday, wearing "Save the Park" t-shirts and carrying signs and painted surfboards. It was stopped because the Commissioners were literally inundated with your letters and phone calls urging them to do the right thing for our coast. And it was stopped because every-day people, across the state, took time out of their lives to participate in this critical environmental battle, took time to protect a beautiful coastal resource for generations to come.

We want to thank those who have participate in helping us to save San Onofre and stop this dangerous development project. In the end, we stopped much more than a toll road—we stopped a dangerous precedent from being set, one that would have left all our state parks and coastal resources in jeopardy to the highest bidder.

Please help us in thanking the eight Commissioners who stood up to the developers by finding their addresses at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/roster.html. The ones to thank are Kruer, Blank, Reilly, Clark, Neely, Shallenberger, Wan and Achadjian.