Vista Takes Round 1 in Bid for New Court

A $100-million expansion of the North County courthouse complex in Vista was recommended Tuesday over construction of a second courthouse in Escondido.

Escondido plans to fight the recommendation when it goes before the county Board of Supervisors next week.

Norman Hickey, chief county administrative officer, endorsed the opinion of a special advisory committee that Vista’s bid for the court expansion project made more financial sense than Escondido’s, even though the Escondido proposal offered about $10 million in “up-front” funds, while the Vista proposal offered none.

North County court and jail facilities are located in Vista. The court evaluation committee, composed of county technical staff, recommended expansion at the present site to avoid the “bifurcation” of courts, which would require transporting prisoners from the Vista complex to court appearances in Escondido.

Hickey said the Vista proposition met the requirements of the county bid proposal, offering to provide a 51-courtroom facility and adequate surface parking, while the Escondido proposal offered a scaled-down 22-court complex with an adjacent parking structure.

The cities see the courthouse facility as a way to draw related professional and commercial businesses.

Municipal Court Judge Victor Ramirez said Tuesday that North County municipal judges unanimously support the Vista complex expansion. Superior Court judges will be polled on the recommendation Thursday.

Vista’s offer includes using a six-acre parcel adjacent to the present county courthouse complex for surface parking, thus avoiding the expense of building a parking structure.

In addition, the committee report states, $700,000 to $800,000 would be saved annually because inmates would not need to be transported from the Vista jail to courts located in Escondido.

Although Vista offers no up-front funds to cover the planning and design of the expansion, the committee noted that county-owned land in Escondido--Deer Park, which now is used to house California Conservation Corps volunteers--could be sold for about $2.4 million to finance the court expansion in either location.

Ken Lounsbery, a former Escondido city attorney and now spokesman for the Escondido courthouse bid, called the committee recommendation for a Vista location, “an endorsement of yet another indefinite delay in construction of much-needed North County courts.”

He said the Vista proposal depends on financing from the half-cent sales tax approved by county voters last year to fund court and jail expansion. Those funds, he said, have been frozen ever since a Riverside County judge overturned the matter.

Lounsbery argued that the project could be delayed for up to five years until a final decision on use of the sales-tax funds is made, probably by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It is inconceivable to me that county staff believes construction (on the courthouse expansion) can begin without funding,” Lounsbery said. Escondido has proposed construction of a 22-courtroom complex within its civic center development at Broadway and East Valley Parkway. The city, along with Lusardi Construction Co., offered $10 million toward their scaled-down, and less expensive, $32.5 million facility.

In its proposal, Escondido offered to buy the Deer Park property from the county to provide immediate funds for the courthouse development.

Bob Campbell, economic development director for the city of Vista, said that the funds from the county-owned Deer Park sale and property taxes due the county from Escondido’s and other cities’ redevelopment efforts could be used to begin immediate planning for expansion of the courts at the Vista location.

Long-term financing could be handled by issuing bonds through a joint-powers authority formed for that purpose, Campbell said, and would not be delayed until the outcome of the sales-tax suit in the courts.

Campbell stressed that nine to 11 courtrooms with support facilities could be available in the near future under the Vista proposal. A 2,000-car parking lot also could be provided on the 6-acre parcel that the city of Vista, which partially owns the land, has offered to acquire, he said.

He conceded that the proposed $104-million Vista courthouse proposal could not be completed without an affirmative outcome for the use of sales-tax funds, but stressed that temporary portable courtrooms, lease of nearby office space for auxiliary services, and other interim measures could resolve the present overcrowding at the Vista facility until the sales-tax suit is settled.

County supervisors have scheduled a 10:30 a.m. hearing Tuesday to hear arguments from the two cities.

Supervisor John MacDonald, whose district includes most of the North County judicial district, was unavailable for comment because of a personal emergency. His chief aide, Nancy Allen, said he is expected to have a statement on the issue after he has reviewed the committee report.