County Site in Lancaster Picked for Courts : Supervisors Reject 2 Private Parcels in Face of Controversy

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to build a $42-million Antelope Valley courthouse on 10 acres of county-owned land in Lancaster, averting a choice between two private sites embroiled in controversy.

The board unanimously approved a motion by 5th District Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who last week recommended that the county discard potential courthouse sites offered for sale by Antelope Valley developers Frank Visco, chairman of the state Republican Party, and Mitch Simon.

The Simon and Visco sites had reached the final stage of the county selection process. But critics complained that Visco had received preferential treatment from Palmdale and Lancaster city officials, who recommended his site, and from county officials. They said a county report on the two sites, which were selected from among nine submitted, favored Visco’s property even though it was more expensive.

Antonovich rejected speculation Tuesday that the controversy caused him to propose the 10-acre site on Avenue M in Lancaster, which houses a county Fire Department dispatch center on two acres and abuts the Visco property.

“The county site allows the taxpayers to save $5 million for purchase of one of the other sites,” Antonovich said in an interview. “I’m sure there is a lot of jealousy that occurs within communities.”

Simon called Antonovich’s proposal a “clever but very transparent move.”

Simon said selection of the county site increases the value of Visco’s property. He echoed comments by Lancaster Councilman George Theophanis, an outspoken Visco rival who has accused Antonovich of trying to quiet the controversy and to pave the way for the county to acquire Visco’s adjoining land for future expansion.

‘Suffer Politically’

“They pretend everything is on the straight and narrow, they go through all the motions, and they accomplish what they started out to do in the beginning, which is to help their cronies,” Simon said. “I would say he’s going to suffer politically.”

But Visco said Tuesday that he will sell his land adjoining the courthouse site to end any speculation.

“If the county wants to buy the land, they can buy it from someone else,” Visco said.

The county site is considerably smaller than the privately owned sites. Visco had offered 30 acres for about $4.9 million, while Simon offered a 20-acre site for $2.6 million or a 30-acre site for $3.9 million. A recent report by the Antelope Valley Justice Facilities Committee, which was formed to study crowding at the existing Lancaster courthouse, said a new courthouse would require at least 15 acres.

But Mike Henry of the county’s chief administrative office said Tuesday that the almost eight acres available at the 10-acre site are adequate for a courthouse. He called the initial 15-acre figure inaccurate.

Henry and other county officials said the county does not plan to build a comprehensive justice complex encompassing a courthouse and sheriff’s station, as had been discussed earlier. If funds become available for such a complex, Henry said, new land will have to be acquired.

When the new courthouse is completed, the present facility on Avenue J in Lancaster may be used for court proceedings involving child-abuse and custody cases, officials said.