$18 Million Is Sought for Juvenile Hall Plan : Detention: Supervisors to ask state for money to build two 80-bed buildings at crowded Sylmar facility and to begin design work to replace downtown complex.

Citing extremely crowded conditions at the three juvenile halls in Los Angeles County, supervisors took the first steps Tuesday toward a major expansion of the San Fernando Valley facility by 1994.

In a unanimous vote, supervisors agreed to ask the state for nearly $18 million to build two 80-bed buildings on the site of the Valley hall in Sylmar and to prepare preliminary plans for replacing the rundown Central Juvenile Hall downtown.

The money would come from a bond issue approved by voters in 1988 to alleviate crowding, health and safety problems in juvenile detention structures.

“This is not to accommodate more kids, but just to give a bed to the kids we have,” said Joan Ouderkirk, chief of administration and program services for the county Department of Probation.

The Valley Juvenile Hall was rebuilt in 1978, seven years after it was damaged in the Sylmar earthquake.

The hall was built for 279 youths but now holds more than twice that many, Ouderkirk said.

Finding room has meant putting mattresses on the floor and allowing common areas, such as television rooms, to double as dormitories at night, Ouderkirk said. “It is not an ideal security situation.”

State inspection reports given to supervisors Tuesday listed numerous violations of state welfare codes, such as too many beds on the floor and too few washbasins, showers and toilets at the county’s three halls in Sylmar, downtown and Downey.

In response, county reports show, the county has installed temporary housing at all three halls, built the Challenger Memorial Youth Camp in Lancaster and increased its use of electronic surveillance “leashes” that allow juvenile offenders to live at home.

Ouderkirk said those efforts have not decreased the demand for beds, but have merely prevented “radically increasing populations.”

Also, she said the Central Juvenile Hall--sections of which were built more than 60 years ago--has inadequate security for the county’s most violent offenders, who usually are taken there.

“Sixty years ago, juveniles were not of the same category of violent offenders that we have now,” she said.

Plans call for replacing that facility with one for about 800 youths and building a separate unit for more violent offenders. The existing facility is designed for 520 youths but the population averaged 758 this year.

Money for construction would come from a $65-million bond issue.

Of that total, $15 million was designated for Los Angeles County, Ouderkirk said.

The county hopes to pick up the additional $3 million from money left over if other counties fail to apply for their allocations or cannot come up with the required matching funds, she said.

If Los Angeles County receives the full $18 million, it will have to furnish about $6 million in matching funds, according to information sent to supervisors by Chief Probation Officer Barry J. Nidorf. The matching money could be financed through county bonds.

Richard B. Dixon, county chief administrative officer, told supervisors initially that the county does not expect to add employees to staff the new buildings. “Unless there is further overcrowding that will force us to put more beds on the floor, there will be no increased costs” above the $6-million match, he said.

But Supervisor Peter F. Schabarum said later he believes the projection will not stand up over time because the number of youthful offenders will continue to rise.