Santee Vows Appeal as Judge’s Ruling Favors Jail Project

Santee officials, who have fought for two years to prevent the county from building a temporary jail in their city, lost a key round Friday when a Superior Court judge ruled that an environmental review of the project complies with state law.

Dealing a serious blow to Santee’s efforts to block the 600-bed men’s facility, Judge James Milliken concluded that an environmental impact report on the project is sufficient and that the San Diego County Board of Supervisors showed no “abuse of discretion” in approving the document.

Santee leaders, who characterize the jail as a “barbed-wire concentration camp” and voice skepticism about county promises that it will be dismantled after seven years, said they plan to appeal Milliken’s decision.

No Doubt of Appeal

“There is no doubt we will appeal,” a clearly disheartened Jim Bartell, Santee’s vice mayor, said after the hearing. “No one is opposed to creating more jail space. The issue is, the county broke the law in preparing this,” he said of the environmental impact report, “and they should not be allowed to proceed.”

County officials, meanwhile, called the ruling gratifying and said it buoys their hopes that construction of the barracks-style jail next to the existing Las Colinas women’s jail can begin soon.

“This is very significant for those citizens concerned about the fact that 3,000 arrestees are released onto the street each month because there is not enough jail space in which to house them for their crimes,” said Rich Robinson, the county’s director of special projects. “Locating this facility was a tough decision for the Board of Supervisors. But, with the imminent closure of the County Jail at Vista (for expansion work), the need for space is critical.”

Despite the county’s victory Friday, another obstacle must be cleared before construction can begin on the jail, which officials had hoped would be ready by summer. That obstacle is the county’s trouble in obtaining sewer capacity from the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which serves the Santee area.

In a move that county officials charge is a veiled attempt to block the jail, the water district and the Santee Redevelopment Agency struck an agreement last year requiring the county to obtain sewer permits from the Redevelopment Agency. The agency’s board of directors consists of Santee City Council members, who are unalterably opposed to the jail.

On Monday, a San Bernardino County judge will consider San Diego County’s request that the agreement be invalidated. The case was moved out of the county on a motion by Santee officials, who argued that local judges might be biased in the matter.

Although the county might be able to tap alternative sources for sewer capacity--among them the Lakeside Sanitation District--the Padre Dam system is the most convenient and obvious agency to serve the jail. Making other arrangements would further delay the project.

Santee officials, meanwhile, still harbor hope that the sewer issue could represent the death knell for the jail.

“If we win Monday, the jail is dead,” Vice Mayor Bartell said.

Friday’s ruling followed a hearing that lasted almost three hours and covered intricate details of environmental law. Santee’s lawsuit charged that the county conducted an inadequate and “factually flawed” environmental review of the project and overlooked alternative sites because of a “precommitment” to the Las Colinas location.

Alternative Site

Specifically, Santee attorney Donald McLean argued that the county failed to solicit opinions from various agencies before the environmental report was drafted and that officials erred in failing to fully analyze the potential of an alternative, county-owned site on Ruffin Road in Kearny Mesa.

Underlying all of McLean’s points, however, was his claim that the temporary facility--needed to alleviate chronic crowding in the jail system--would not be temporary at all. McLean said the county’s pledge to close the jail after seven years is based on predictions that a half-cent sales tax increase for construction of permanent jails will win voter approval in June.

“This so-called commitment is not a commitment at all,” McLean said of the promise to close the jail. “It’s a hope.”

Remarks Judge Milliken made before announcing his decision made it clear that the ruling was difficult. He noted that he was forced to balance the “emergency situation in terms of the inmate population in jails in the county” with Santee’s legitimate “concerns about the long-term impact of . . . this facility on their community.”

But Milliken said he had no alternative but to accept the county’s promise that the jail will be closed after seven years. Given that, he said, he was satisfied that all parties seeking a voice in the project had had their opportunity.

Although there isn’t agreement, Milliken said all parties had been consulted. “And I am satisfied that the process and procedure in developing the EIR is not so substantially at variance with the law that there is an abuse of discretion.”

The judge also said he did not believe there are “significant environmental impacts that have not been addressed. In conclusion, I’m satisfied that certification of the EIR complied with the applicable laws.”

The $5-million jail project, which also includes a 192-bed expansion of Las Colinas, the women’s jail, is designed to provide space for more than 500 inmates who will be displaced when the Vista jail shuts next month. It will be closed for a year while builders complete expansion work.