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Council approves abandonment of portion of temporary construction easement for Geronimo Road widening
Summary
After a public hearing, the Lake Forest City Council unanimously approved a resolution reducing the temporary construction easement for the Geronimo Road Widening Improvement Project to spare two parking spaces at a nearby apartment complex.
The Lake Forest City Council on Dec. 3 approved a resolution to abandon portions of a previously authorized temporary construction easement (TCE) for the Geronimo Road Widening Improvement Project.
Assistant Engineer Doug Erdman described the project as part of a long-running Foothill Corridor circulation plan and said the Geronimo segment realigns the roadway at El Toro Road and will add turn-lane capacity. Erdman said the city originally adopted a resolution of necessity on Sept. 17, 2024; the abandonment approved Dec. 3 reduces the TCE area by relinquishing two parking spaces that staff concluded were not needed for construction.
Erdman said the change was proposed to lessen inconvenience to residents of an adjacent apartment complex and that the property owner (and the owner’s attorney) had been notified; the city had not separately notified individual residents because the property is rental housing. No members of the public spoke during the public hearing on the item.
Council members asked technical questions about the design including where dual left turns and raised medians will be installed and whether the small striped area in the plan would be raised median or just a gore/striping. Erdman explained the striped triangular gore area and that raised medians are planned along El Toro Road as part of the Foothill Corridor Phasing Plan.
The council voted to close the public hearing and adopt the staff recommendation to abandon the two parking-space portions of the temporary construction easement; the motion passed unanimously.
Quotes: “The Geronimo Road Widening Improvement Project corrects an existing misalignment of Geronimo Road crossing El Toro Road,” Assistant Engineer Doug Erdman said during the hearing. “We don’t really need those two spaces, and we want to relinquish that area in this abandonment of the TCE area to reduce the inconvenience on the residents of that complex.”
The resolution reduces the TCE footprint for construction; staff said the project continues to require right-of-way acquisition and temporary easements in other locations to install the dual left-turn lanes and raised medians described in the presentation.
