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After swelling to perhaps 1,500 or even 2,000, the crowd at a federal hearing on the proposed Foothill South toll road began to trickle away by midafternoon. Unlike at a state Coastal Commission hearing in February, when thousands remained into the night, there will be no decision made at this hearing: only testimony will be recorded, with a decision expected by Dec. 22.

Among the toll road supporters, most of them on the right side of the meeting room at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and identifiable by their orange T-shirts, sat Brent Praegitzer of Newport Beach, a landscape architect who is employed as part of the proposed Foothill South project.

Praegitzer said he was not asked by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency to be at the hearing, and was in fact allowing himself to get behind on another project in order to show up.

He knew many surfers were in the audience, worried about the potential effect of the toll road on the famous Trestles surfing beach — although the toll road agency says there will be no effect. Others are worried about the toll road’s proximity to a campground at San Onofre State Beach park.

“They’re not paving over a beach, they’re not taking out a campground,” Praegitzer said. “It’s a bunch of lies. So many people have heard so many lies over the years.”

But George Brolaski, 76, of Encinitas, a doctor and a surfer, said the surfing was exactly what he was worried about. Like other opponents, he wore a green T-shirt and sat on the left side of the room.

“My son is a surfer, my grandson is a surfer,” he said. “I’m worried about what will happen. It seems like it all comes down to money. It looks like it’s all people hoping to get jobs.”

In fact, some of those who turned out in support did hope to get jobs, and were unapologetic about it.

“I’m concerned about being able to get back and forth,” said David Cordero, 39, of Riverside, a member of a carpenter’s union in an orange T-shirt. “And not only that, I hope it will create some work.”

Green-shirted Kathy Feyerabend, who has lived in her San Clemente home for 37 years, wasn’t buying any of it.

“I don’t feel we need it,” she said. “It’s going to be more development in the back country.”

While those seated listened, speakers for and against the toll road took turns at the microphone. Supporters talked about the future traffic congestion the toll road agency says the road is meant to relieve.

Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell, along with other Orange County elected officials, spoke of a 60 percent increase along I-5 in the area by 2025.

“My constituents tell me how hard it is to drive to San Diego on Interstate 5 to visit friends and family,” he said. “They wonder the Foothill South hasn’t been built already.”

 The proposed toll road was a more immediate matter for some.

Rebecca Robles of the Acjachemen Nation, an American Indian group also known as the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, said building the road would intrude upon a sacred site centered on Panhe, an ancient village site where she said many of her ancestors are buried and where rituals are held.

“This road would be devastating for me and my community,” Robles said. “The impacts of the toll road will have a permanent, damaging effect on our ability to practice and maintain the lifeways of our traditional community.”

Tony Moiso of the O’Neill-Moiso family, owners of Rancho Mission Viejo, spoke of the road’s potential benefits — although he said development of as many as 14,000 homes on the 23,000 acre ranch is not contingent on the road. The road would go through part of the ranch land, in his family since 1882.

“The completion of the toll road is a real answer to real problems today,” Moiso said. “There is no reasonable alternative that will solve the congestion problems of today.”