Supervisors Face Another Vote on Jail

It took more than four years, thousands of dollars and a lashing from a federal judge before the supervisors buckled down in 1987 and decided to build a massive new jail in Gypsum Canyon, adjacent to Anaheim Hills.

Even then, for a normally unanimous body, it caused a rare 3-2 split before a crowd of more than 400 emotional, sign-carrying and chanting activists.

“You can’t print what I have to say,” one older woman griped after the supervisors’ vote. “We’ll sue the SOBs.”

Now, almost exactly two years later, a recent political accord will enable the supervisors to take another vote--this time on how to finance the jail. And even though the county has already spent more than $6 million to pursue its plans for the Gypsum Canyon jail, the vote is certain to be just as explosive.

Despite the pressure, the same narrow board majority appears to be intact. But before the vote expected in September, it will have to survive a high-profile, grass-roots campaign.

“I don’t know of any change,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley, who favored the Gypsum Canyon site, said recently. “I would think the majority is still there on the board.”

The 1987 vote was the genesis of a community group called Taxpayers for a Centralized Jail, which is now a financially and politically potent organization with the resources for litigation and election campaigns.

Last year, the group collected 112,000 signatures to qualify an initiative for the June, 1990, ballot that could kill the county’s Gypsum Canyon jail plans. It would require that all future county jails be built in Santa Ana.

The group’s president, Rick Violett, promised that the supervisors will feel the pressure. “We’ll be there,” he said. “We only need one vote. It was 3-2 then, and that was close.”

In addition to Riley, the supporters for Gypsum Canyon in 1987 were Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Roger R. Stanton. The two newest supervisors, who joined the board months before the vote, were the dissenters. They are Gaddi H. Vasquez, whose district includes Gypsum Canyon, and Don R. Roth, who represents adjacent Anaheim.

Bill Requires Vote

The supervisors’ vote to confirm or deny Gypsum Canyon by allocating expendituresis required by pending legislation authored by state Sen. Marian Bergeson, R-Newport Beach. It was part of an accord she struck with Santa Ana city officials early this month in return for their cooperation in seeking a financing plan for the project.

Bergeson is the author of the special bill that would allow Orange County to ask voters for a half-cent sales tax to pay for the construction of a jail.

Santa Ana officials wanted the sales tax specifically limited to a Gypsum Canyon jail, frustrating forces that want the jail built in Santa Ana. But Bergeson said she believes the selection of a jail site is a local function and should not be made by the state, so she withdrew her bill.

The bill was resubmitted June 6 and is expected to pass by September, thanks to an accord under which the supervisors are to vote before Sept. 15 on where the money will be spent. The vote will come after the county completes its environmental impact report on the project.

As long as there are no surprises in the report, county and city officials said they don’t expect the 3-2 supervisors split to change.

Supervisor Roth said, “I’m a more solid no vote. I’m as solid as the rock of Gibraltar.” Roth said he didn’t want to speak for other supervisors, but he knew of no changes in the board’s vote.

‘I Don’t See Any Hope There’

Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter, a leader of the Taxpayers for a Centralized Jail organization, said, “The makeup of the supervisors hasn’t changed, so I don’t see any hope there.”

Hunter said, however, that he is convinced that the Gypsum Canyon jail will never be built because it will be defeated by the initiative or because voters will reject the sales tax.

“I am positive the initiative is going to pass,” Hunter said. “It’s a simple message: common sense.”

County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish said the government is still committed to Gypsum Canyon as the answer to its jail-overcrowding woes.

“Nothing has changed in terms of the intent,” he said. “There’s no hidden or sub-rosa agenda, I’m certain of that.”

Jails Overcrowded

The Gypsum Canyon jail is the cornerstone of the county’s plans to relieve its seriously overcrowded jails. Currently, the Sheriff’s Department is releasing hundreds of prisoners each week who would be incarcerated if there was room in the jail.

The Gypsum Canyon jail would hold 6,700 maximum-security inmates, tripling the county’s current jail capacity. It would also cost more than $700 million to build and more than $90 million each year to operate.

While officials say the same board majority is intact, however, they acknowledge that some major obstacles to a Gypsum Canyon jail have developed since 1987.

The property is owned by the Irvine Co., which is reluctant to relinquish it to the county. Originally, the county wanted to close its branch jail in El Toro and give that property to the Irvine Co. in trade for the land at Gypsum Canyon.

But after more than a year of negotiating, that plan was rejected. Now the county faces the possibility of having to purchase the land, which could be expensive.

The county grand jury recently urged the supervisors not to spend any more money on their Gypsum Canyon plans until they have acquired the property.

Sales Tax Needed

Also, the county’s only apparent hope for financing the $700-million construction of the jail is the half-cent sales tax measure that would have to be approved by voters next year. That can be a tall order, however. Orange County’s conservative voters have a reputation for rejecting higher taxes.

The government will probably also ask voters for an additional half-cent sales tax next year for new roads.

The environmental impact report on the Gypsum Canyon project will also be released before the supervisors’ vote, probably in September. Violett said his organization is raising money for experts who would carefully scrutinize the document.

City officials from Anaheim and Yorba Linda have also threatened the project with litigation if there are any problems with the environmental report.