Move Ends Years of Wrangling : Supervisors OK Lease for Old Courthouse

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved leasing part of the historic Old County Courthouse in Santa Ana to a state appeals court, ending years of wrangling over who will get to use how much of the sandstone and granite building.

The supervisors endorsed a compromise lease worked out two weeks ago among the state, the county and Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), which will allow the Orange County Historical Commission to share part of the 85-year-old structure.

While the Historical Commission did not get the space it wanted for a permanent museum, it did win access to the building’s showpiece, a second-floor courtroom, for 25 days a month to conduct tours. The commission will also be able to use a second courtroom on the eastern side of the building as a museum. However, the state court will have the right to take over that space if it needs more room.

“We’re disappointed we don’t have more of a firm spot forever, so to speak,” said Clifford Benson, president of the Old County Courthouse Museum Society, a group supporting creation of a museum in the Santa Ana Civic Center landmark. “But it certainly gives us an opportunity to get in and do what we feel we should.”

Room to Expand

Benson said the appellate court might eventually expand so much it will outgrow the courthouse, giving the museum room to expand within the building.

In 1981, Robinson won approval from the state Legislature to create a branch Court of Appeal so long as there was a building available. In 1982, the Legislature specified that the courthouse should be the building to house the court.

The building is currently undergoing a $3.2-million renovation and is expected to house the appeals branch in approximately 18 months. Meanwhile, the four appellate court judges have been using space in a modern high-rise office building in Santa Ana.

County officials began negotiating a lease of part of the Old County Courthouse in 1983, but the talks bogged down in disagreements. However, a lease was finally approved Tuesday after a final round of talks.

The agreement requires that the judges use the building’s historic courtroom only five days a month and pay $12,650 monthly rent, starting Jan. 1, 1987, for office space on the first floor and in the quasi-basement. Under the proposal negotiated last month, the judges would have received unlimited use of the courtroom and would have been charged monthly rent of $14,115.

Also, the state must provide six months’ notice if it wants to expand the area under lease, rather than four months’ notice specified in the earlier lease.

“The Historical Commission believes that the revised sublease better accommodates the future county historical museum than did the Sept. 24 sublease,” Supervisor Roger Stanton said Tuesday. Robinson “was instrumental in fashioning the improved terms” of the agreement, Stanton added.

Read Documents

The appeals court judges now hold public hearings only about three days a month. Most of their time is spent reading documents submitted by lawyers.

In a separate action Tuesday, supervisors authorized county staff to seek a $300,000 grant from the state to repair and restore part of the courthouse. Last year the state awarded $140,000, which was used for repairs in the building.