Federal Plan for Halfway House Near Knott’s Dies

The federal Bureau of Prisons has dropped a controversial plan to open a halfway house for prisoners near Knott’s Berry Farm, officials said Thursday.

Widespread community opposition and conflicts with local zoning ordinances led to rejection of the plan to house 20 to 40 federal prisoners near one of Orange County’s largest tourist attractions, bureau Director Norman A. Carlson said.

“We understand there’s a lot of community opposition, and naturally so,” Carlson said at a meeting Thursday with Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).

A private, Kentucky-based firm had proposed to operate the halfway house at the Frontier Inn Motel, 7861 Beach Blvd. But the plan violated federal rules requiring that any site meet all local zoning codes and ordinances, Carlson said.

Didn’t Understand Policy

“For whatever reason, they didn’t understand what our policy is,” said Carlson, who learned only Wednesday that the site was under consideration. “There is no way we could operate a site under those conditions.”

Bannum Enterprises of Louisville, Ky., had submitted the lowest bid to operate the house, one of 350 in the nation designed to help federal prisoners serving the last 120 days of their sentences ease back into the community.

But the proposal quickly drew fire from tourism and business leaders in Buena Park, who said a halfway house near Knott’s Berry Farm and Movieland Wax Museum was bound to alarm potential visitors.

“When I heard any kind of prison facility was going through one of the main streets in my district near Knott’s Berry Farm, I couldn’t believe it,” Dornan declared at the start of Thursday’s meeting.

Murder Case Cited

“Let’s take this to the street level: In 1982, we had a set of parents from the San Fernando Valley. Their 14-year-old daughter had been murdered by a 17-year-old. It was a brutal, hideous, first-degree murder, and because he was only 17, he was able to get into a halfway house within a year,” Dornan said.

The case undoubtedly involved a halfway house operated for the state, not the federal government, Carlson said. Most violent offenders are prosecuted under state law, and in any case, violent and sexual offenders and those convicted of organized crime are not eligible to enter community homes operated by the Bureau of Prisons, Carlson said.

A halfway house for county prisoners already is located in Buena Park, on Commonwealth Avenue near Fullerton Airport, Buena Park City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said. “It’s been there less than a year, and there have not been any reports of any problems,” he said.

Garden Grove also has a federal community treatment center, the My Break Transitional Center on Barclay Drive, Bureau of Prisons officials said. One center is located in Riverside County, and seven are in Los Angeles County.

Right of Immunity

O’Rourke said Buena Park’s city attorney had found a legal opinion to the effect that the federal government, by exercising its right of immunity, could approve the facility near Knott’s Berry Farm despite local zoning conflicts.

Dannemeyer cautioned, moreover, that the city could face legal action if it refused a conditional use permit for a halfway house on a site such as the one in question.

But Carlson said: “We want the local authorities to have every opportunity to be heard. We don’t try to usurp their authority.”

It was not immediately clear what site federal officials would turn to next. A spokesman for Bannum Enterprises has said the company may propose another location in Buena Park, the Melody Manor Motel, about two miles from Knott’s Berry Farm.

“We had told them (Bannum Enterprises) that we’ll look at whatever they propose, and if it meets our requirements and their requirements, we might be able to accept it,” said Kathy Morse, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons.

New Bidding Likely

But Buena Park Mayor Lester J. Reese said Thursday that federal officials had indicated that they would not consider other sites in the city.

Carlson said the bureau probably will seek a whole new round of proposals for the facility and go with a new low bid--providing it meets federal regulations.

Dornan said he would not necessarily oppose another site in north Orange County “as long as it’s a long, tortuous processing of hearing community response.