Panel Rejects Park Site for Jail : Committee Vote Kills Idea of Use for Old Hospital

Discussion of converting a vacant Balboa Park Navy Hospital building into a temporary jail and booking facility ended Wednesday when a San Diego City Council committee killed the idea.

The council’s Public Services and Safety Committee voted 4-0, with Councilwoman Judy McCarty absent, not to use the building to house prisoners.

“To use this building to jail felons is clearly inappropriate,” said Councilman Bruce Henderson, a committee member.

The San Diego County Grand Jury, which has been researching possible temporary jail locations, first suggested using the former psychiatric ward at the northern end of the old naval hospital complex as a solution to the space crunch in the county jail system.

The idea immediately drew the opposition of Balboa Park supporters, one of whom told the committee Wednesday that county voters must provide the solution to the jail space dilemma by approving a half-percent sales tax increase at the polls in June.

Heat on the Electorate

“We believe the heat should stay on the electorate to find a long-term solution to the problem, not a Band-Aid solution,” said Robert Arnhym, vice-chairman of the city’s Park and Recreation Board.

But the committee agreed to consider the issue after being told Jan. 27 that the county releases 2,300 arrestees, many of them from San Diego, each month for lack of space.

City Manager John Lockwood, who recommended that the building not be used as jail space, told the committee in a report that the county has no money to rehabilitate the building or operate it.

Lockwood also said that only “low risk” arrestees accused of misdemeanors could be housed in the facility without spending “significant” amounts of money on development costs. The county has no plans to detain low risk individuals, Lockwood’s report shows.

The city attorney’s office also raised legal questions about the use of parkland for jail space, suggesting that the conversion could only be accomplished in the event of an emergency. But city attorneys are unclear on exactly what conditions would constitute an emergency because the issue has never been tested in court.