With Jail Measure Defeated, Officials Disagree on County’s Next Move

Orange County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton said Wednesday that county officials have no choice but to proceed with plans to build a new jail in Gypsum Canyon, now that voters have resoundingly defeated a countywide initiative that would have confined the facility to Santa Ana.

But Stanton’s colleague, Supervisor Don R. Roth, said the defeat of Measure A, the Centralized Jail Initiative, means voters want the facility built outside the county--preferably in the Riverside County desert, if officials and residents there will accept it.

Stanton expressed a willingness to join Roth in discussing the prospect with Riverside County leaders, but if Tuesday’s election proved anything it is that voters--and politicians--are as uncertain and confused as ever about the jail issue.

Tuesday’s vote also promised that expensive political battles are likely to continue among county supervisors, city officials and the powerful Irvine Co., which owns the Gypsum Canyon land and wants to build a housing development there.

Anaheim officials want to annex the Gypsum Canyon site and have not ruled out legal action if the county begins construction. And Roth, whose district includes Gypsum Canyon near the Riverside County line, says the county is also flirting with a legal challenge from the Irvine Co.

“We’re buying a long-term lawsuit if we go along with Gypsum Canyon,” Roth predicted.

An Irvine Co. spokeswoman said Wednesday that speculation about a possible legal challenge is “premature” and that the subject has not been discussed by company officials.

Orange County voters defeated Measure A by nearly 2 to 1, with 65.2% of countywide ballots rejecting the plan in final, unofficial results.

The measure, which would have limited future county jail construction to the county seat, was backed by Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda residents who live near Gypsum Canyon. Santa Ana residents strongly opposed it, and branded it a racist attempt to dump the jail into a city with a predominantly Latino population.

The county had already spent more than $6 million studying where to build a jail before selecting Gypsum Canyon. However, the county lacks the money to build the jail.

“We have to seek outside help now,” Stanton said. “It’s very simple. We need a jail and we need financial help to build it.”

Irvine Co. officials acknowledge that the county has the power to acquire the property through eminent domain proceedings--even if at a steep price.

Roth estimates that the county could pay up to $1 million per acre for the land.

However, four of the five supervisors would have to agree to launch an eminent domain proceeding, and some officials question whether that would ever happen.

“I can’t imagine (Supervisor Gaddi R.) Vasquez or Don Roth going for that,” said Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter.

The Gypsum Canyon area is within Anaheim’s sphere of influence, a technical phrase meaning the city has first rights to annex the area. City officials have already begun the process by submitting an annexation request to the Local Area Formation Commission, said Hunter.

Hunter conceded that his city’s plans and those of the county may be on a collision course.

“We are proceeding to build homes there until somebody says that we can’t,” he said. “If the county got the votes and were to start using their powers of eminent domain then we might consider a legal challenge to that.”