Supervisors Reportedly Pressing On With Jail Plan

The Board of Supervisors is pressing ahead with plans for a controversial new jail near Anaheim Stadium that was stalled last week when a Superior Court judge rejected the environmental impact report, a knowledgeable source said Thursday.

In a closed-door session, the source said, the supervisors on Tuesday directed county staff to determine how much additional work on the environmental impact report would be needed to enable the project to proceed.

After the staff review, the supervisors will decide whether to hire a company to rework the environmental report, appeal the judge’s decision or abandon the project.

The outcome of Tuesday’s meeting does not mean the supervisors are committed to proceeding with the Katella-Douglass site, but it was the first indication of how the supervisors might respond to last week’s court ruling. Supervisor Don R. Roth, whose district includes Anaheim, was reportedly the only supervisor who opposed proceeding with the staff review.

City Filed Suit in 1986

The lawsuit challenging the project was filed by the city of Anaheim in December, 1986. Thursday, Anaheim City Manager Robert Simpson said that, if the supervisors approved another environmental report, the city would challenge it again.

“We’re going to be opposed to a jail on that site,” he said.

Anaheim City Councilman Irv Pickler added, “I think they’re being silly. They’re beating a dead horse.”

Supervisors and other county officials declined to comment Thursday.

Judge Claude M. Owens ruled on June 6 that the environmental report on the proposed jail did not adequately explain its impact on the surrounding business district, known in Anaheim as the Platinum Triangle.

He also said the report should have considered the impact on the community if jail overcrowding forced the county to house more than one prisoner in each cell at the Anaheim site, at the intersection of Katella Avenue and Douglass Road.

Owens said, however, that the decision about whether to build the jail belongs to the Board of Supervisors. He said his role was to determine if the reporting process is followed correctly.

Behind the decision to proceed with the staff review, the source said, is a concern among some supervisors that a larger jail, planned for Gypsum Canyon, could also be stalled by litigation. The county’s plans to expand a branch jail in Orange also are being challenged in court.

The county has yet to determine how it would pay for a jail on the Katella-Douglass site. As a result of the strong opposition to the site, a state law was passed prohibiting the use of state funds for construction of a jail at that location.

So far, the county reportedly has spent about $200,000 on legal fees to fight the Anaheim lawsuit challenging the Katella-Douglass site and another $300,000 for the environmental impact report. Anaheim officials said they have spent $300,000 on legal fees related to the Katella-Douglass site.

The board approved the Katella-Douglass jail site in May, 1986, after the supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates were held in contempt of court by a federal judge who complained the county was not responding to its jail overcrowding problem.

The jail is expected to include about 1,500 beds and originally was priced at $140 million. Now, however, it is expected to cost as much as $175 million.