Clark Won’t Rule Out Building Small Jail Near Main Santa Ana Facility

With officials in Anaheim and Santa Ana fighting to block two proposed jail sites in each of their cities, Board of Supervisors Chairman Ralph B. Clark said Sunday that he has not ruled out a fifth location, behind the existing main jail in downtown Santa Ana.

“I haven’t changed my opinion that a new jail belongs as close as possible to the existing courthouse and law enforcement facilities,” said Clark.

Clark said he was “surprised” that the county-owned parking lot in downtown Santa Ana had been eliminated as the site of a new jail facility, as a near-term solution to overcrowding at the main jail.

Pressure From Judge

Supervisors, under pressure from a federal judge to relieve overcrowding at the jail, last week decided to speed emergency construction of a smaller jail on county-owned land, while continuing a search for a separate, remote site for a larger, 5,000-inmate facility.

“I need some more reasons to know why the most logical place, behind the existing jail, shouldn’t be considered,” he said in an interview Sunday. “I’m not willing to completely rule it out yet.”

Meanwhile, Santa Ana Mayor Dan Griset called on Clark to stop “passing the buck” and show “leadership” by dropping his longstanding opposition to a jail in the remote Gypsum/Coal Canyon site, a plan that has infuriated Clark’s constituents in nearby Anaheim Hills.

“It’s my opinion that the Board of Supervisors could move just as fast in the (Gypsum/Coal Canyon) facility . . . rather than dilly-dally around trying to build two jails,” Griset said Sunday.

Last week, the board ordered a listing of all county-owned sites suitable for a jail housing 1,000 to 1,200 inmates that also would be close to freeway routes and be accessible from the courts and police stations.

List Narrowed to 4

The list was narrowed Friday to four sites--two in Anaheim near Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium and two in Santa Ana, one of which is near a planned high school.

Supervisors indicated they wanted to make a final choice at their Tuesday meeting in hopes of showing U.S. District Court Judge William P. Gray that the county was making a good-faith effort to solve inmate overcrowding at the main jail.

Gray has ordered Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates to appear in court on Thursday to show why he should not again be held in criminal contempt of court for allowing the central jail inmate population to exceed a court imposed limit of 1,500.

Gates and county supervisors were held in contempt of court last March 18 and the county was fined $50,000 for failure to comply with Gray’s seven-year-old order to reduce jail overcrowding.

Inmate populations exceeded the limit three times in the month of February, despite efforts to release nonviolent prisoners, install temporary tent and trailer housing at outlying detention sites and speed construction of additions to the main jail and a nearby work-furlough facility in the City of Orange.

A new 5,000-inmate correctional facility has been in the planning stages for several years. But each time board members have been poised to select a site, an outpouring of community opposition has led them to begin anew their search for potential sites.

Because the process of selection, environmental review and construction of a new jail could take up to five years, Clark last week proposed the building of another, smaller jail on county-owned property, in hopes of reducing the time by as much as two to three years.

Clark said Sunday that he and other county officials had considered the parking lot west of the existing 1,191-bed jail facility on Santa Ana Boulevard near Flower Street as the interim solution.

A staff search, however, has narrowed the possibilities to four:

- A 7.7-acre former trash-transfer station between the Santa Ana River and the 57 Freeway at Katella Avenue, near Anaheim Stadium. Called the Katella-Douglas property, the land is valued in a county study at $6 million with a population density of 2.5 people per acre within a half-mile radius.

- A 17-acre site at Ball Road and Harbor Boulevard just north of Disneyland in Anaheim. The land was valued at $4.6 million with a population density of 12.9 people per acre within a half-mile radius.

- A 20-acre parcel at Grand and McFadden avenues in Santa Ana, where the county registrar of voters is located, along with undeveloped land under cultivation for strawberries. The land was valued at $3.5 million with a population density of 17.6 people per acre within a half-mile radius.

- A 10-acre county complex on Fruit Street in Santa Ana, where the Phoenix House drug rehabilitation center sits. The land was valued at $9.2 million because of the cost of relocating the center and other county facilities. Population density was estimated at 10.6 people per acre within a half-mile radius.

Supervisor Roger Stanton said Sunday that relocation requirements make the Fruit Street site less desirable because it would add months to the construction time.

The Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Trustees, scrambling to alleviate overcrowding in its schools, has voted to try to buy both the Santa Ana properties, but especially the Grand-McFadden site because the district is building a high school across the street.

If the county will not sell the land, there has been behind-the-scenes talk of taking condemnation action against the county. Santa Ana Mayor Griset, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 72nd Assembly District being vacated by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), said he was confident that the City Council would support the trustees in any such action.

Council Expresses Anger

Meanwhile, at a special emergency session on Saturday, Anaheim City Council members expressed anger at the inclusion of the two Anaheim sites. Mayor Don Roth, who is waging a campaign to succeed the retiring Supervisor Clark, said a jail at either site would be disastrous for the city’s tourist industry. Roth said both major sports teams based at Anaheim Stadium have expressed alarm at inclusion of the Katella-Douglas site.

A.E. (Red) Patterson, spokesman for the California Angels, said Sunday that the baseball team’s management was adamantly opposed to having a jail at either Anaheim site and that he would register owner Gene Autrey’s concern at today’s City Council meeting.

“We think both the Anaheim sites are disadvantageous to youth-oriented projects. We’ve got a lot of kids coming to ballgames and certainly Disneyland has a lot of children attending their park,” Patterson said.

“There must be some better place to put a jail,” Patterson said. “We would prefer the Santa Ana sites. I don’t believe prisons or jails should be anywhere near where you have a lot of traffic already.”