Trimming of Jail Site List Brings Joy or Gloom to Homeowners

The day after a county report narrowed a list of potential sites for a new jail from 35 to 29, the dividing line was drawn Friday between homeowners who live near the remaining sites and those who own property near the locations that were eliminated.

Tallas Margrave, co-chairman of an Anaheim Hills group battling against any new jail in Coal or Gypsum canyons, said: “I’ve had the phone going all day long, and (callers) said, ‘We’ll have to get an injunction and you can count on $1,000 from me’ ” for the legal battle.

The reaction from Robert D. Breton, who lives near the east Mission Viejo site dropped by the county task force, was somewhat different: “I think you could describe me as extremely pleased and elated. This is a sign, I think, that the supervisors have made a wise decision.”

East Mission Viejo, north Irvine, Tomato Spring, Little Joaquin Valley, Peters Canyon Reservoir and Irvine Park were eliminated from the original 35 sites being considered for a 4,500- to 5,000-inmate jail by a site selection committee.

The committee’s feasibility report, written by Michael Ruane of the county Environmental Management Agency and released Thursday, indicated that many of the remaining 29 locations also have drawbacks.

Four are close to the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Another is part of a proposed Limestone Regional Park. Two others, La Paz and West Loma Ridge, are in landslide hazard zones. Others are in flood zones or may have other drainage problems.

The county set Nov. 14 as the deadline for written comments on the report, and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the matter Nov. 26, when it may cut the number of locations to about half a dozen. The remaining sites will be studied further.

Margrave is fighting to keep Coal and Gypsum canyons off the short list.

As president of the Anaheim Hills Planned Community Assn., he led the opposition two years ago to picking those two sites for a jail and persuaded the supervisors to expand their search for sites.

“People up here aren’t going to object to having a jail per se, but they are going to object to having the largest facility in the free world,” which is what a 5,000-bed jail would be, said Margrave, an executive of a civil engineering, land surveying and property management firm.

Margrave, co-chairman of Citizens for a Better Orange County, which was formed in February, 1984, to fight the jail, suggested Black Star Canyon in the mountains east of Gypsum Canyon as a good place to put a jail.

But the county feasibility study says Black Star Canyon “has poor, lengthy access” and possible drainage problems.

Those problems don’t exist at six sites just south of Irvine Lake in the Silverado Canyon area. But residents there are upset at the thought of a jail nearby.

“It’s not just the jail--it’s the impact it would have on our community that we don’t like,” said Dusty Mutch, a 13-year canyon resident.

“How would they evacuate the jail in the event of flood or fire, which is a real problem in our community?” Mutch asked.

“You figure, my goodness sakes, if everyone was coming out to visit 5,000 inmates on a weekend, even if you figure one visitor for each inmate, what traffic,” said Mutch, a teacher’s assistant and mother of four.

Supervisor Bruce Nestande, whose district contains most of the proposed sites, said he expects “a long, drawn-out process” before one is picked. Nestande has said that the supervisors will be criticized no matter where they put the jail.

“It will be a very time-consuming process because we don’t own the land,” he said. “We have to go through land purchase, environmental impact report and potential lawsuits.”

The county supervisors were found in contempt last year by a federal judge who said that they and Sheriff Brad Gates had not complied with a 1978 court order to ease overcrowding in the main men’s jail in Santa Ana.

In the 19 months since then, branch jails in Orange and near El Toro have been expanded, and a piece of county-owned property near Anaheim Stadium has been chosen for a 1,500-inmate jail.

Anaheim residents and business people have strongly challenged the choice of that site and are trying to get the supervisors to reverse their decision. The Legislature passed a bill in its most recent session that would prohibit the use of state funds to build a jail on the site.