Site Near Post Office Called Ideal : Air Force Land Sought for a New County Jail

San Diego city and county officials want the U.S. Air Force to give up a $20-million piece of land for free so the county can build a jail on it.

The land, on Midway Drive across from the main San Diego Post Office, is not being effectively used by the Air Force and ought to be declared surplus, the county Board of Supervisors and the City Council said in similar resolutions passed Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors has asked members of San Diego’s congressional delegation in Washington to support the move, and Supervisor George Bailey said Tuesday that all four San Diego congressmen and California’s two senators have pledged to back the county.

If successful, the county would use the land for a new pretrial jail, where those arrested would be held at least until formal charges are filed at an arraignment, and perhaps until they go to trial. At that point, the inmates would be moved to the downtown jail or to regional jails in Vista, El Cajon or Chula Vista.

No convicted criminals would be held at the jail, county officials say.

The county’s criminal justice planners prefer the Midway site because it is near downtown, close to Interstates 5 and 8, and in a commercial, rather than a residential, area.

“It’s an ideal site,” said Bailey, who is recognized as the board’s leader on criminal justice issues. But Bailey admitted that the most attractive feature about the site is the potential that the financially strained county could obtain the land for free.

Before that happens, however, the Air Force will have to declare that it has no use for the land and deem it excess. Next, the federal government would need to label the land as surplus, meaning no other federal agency needs it. At that point, federal law would allow the U.S. attorney general to turn the land over to a local agency if the parcel is to be used for correctional programs.

The 20 acres sought by the county are part of a 71-acre site known as Air Force Plant 19, where General Dynamics manufactures parts of the fuselage for the space shuttle orbiter. The 20 acres, at Midway Drive near Barnett Avenue, have been used for the Post Office’s overflow parking and as a site for periodic auctions of surplus government property by the General Services Administration.

Merle Howard, a civilian staff member for the Air Force at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, said the land the county wants is expected to be declared as excess by 1990. But Howard, who oversees facility management for the Air Force, said that it is not clear now whether the land might be declared surplus and given to the county. That question will probably be resolved in negotiations between the congressional delegation and high-ranking Air Force officials.

The proposed county jail on the site would be a 500-bed maximum-security facility. The design favored by the county would be modular, so that three additional 500-bed units could be added as the county obtains more funds for jail construction. Chuck Pennell, a criminal justice planner for the county, said all 2,000 proposed beds could fit on the 20-acre parcel.

Last month, the Board of Supervisors decided to seek legislation enabling the county to finance the proposed jail by increasing the surcharge on parking fines to $5 from $1.50. The county also wants to take $2, rather than the current $1, out of every $10 paid in court fines for other offenses.

The proceeds from the increased fines would be used to repay the debt from the $50 million in bonds that the county would issue to pay for construction of the jail.