By Dave Kiff, Laguna Beach City Manager
Over the past several weeks, a number of Laguna Beach residents have emailed or met with me asking good questions about Laguna Canyon Road (LCR) and the possibility that the city may agree to Caltrans’ “relinquishment” of the road to the city. I’ve appreciated that good and thoughtful input very much.
State highway relinquishment is a state-sponsored and precise process whereby the California Transportation Commission “relinquishes” (not sells) a road to another level of government (a willing one). This happens primarily for a couple of reasons:
> The road is not part of a state network of roads that is necessary for large-scale, regional transportation;
A local agency near the road may want to redesign the road in a manner that is contrary to Caltrans’ design standards but makes more sense for the community; and
The state sees the benefit (in terms of avoided maintenance and other costs) of not owning the road.
The road is not “sold” to the locality. It’s given to the locality, typically with an amount of funds that Caltrans would otherwise have to spend to bring a deficient road to a “state of good repair.” Why would relinquishment of LCR even be of interest for Laguna Beach? It’s a good question – which I’ll answer below. A better one now may be: “Is the concept of relinquishment worth exploring further?” The answer (to me) Is “yes, it’s worth exploring.” But should we blindly take on relinquishment of the […]
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