Irvine Co. Ready to Discuss Sale of Jail Land to County : Gypsum Canyon: Board of Supervisors is expected to authorize formal negotiations for the site on Dec. 18.

Irvine Co. executives, who have long opposed Orange County’s plans to build a jail in Gypsum Canyon, said Thursday that they are willing to sit down with officials and consider selling the land.

The company owns the 2,500-acre Gypsum Canyon site and hopes to build thousands of single-family homes there. Company officials reiterated Thursday that they are pressing ahead with those plans and have no intention of abandoning them pending any negotiations.

But with the Board of Supervisors under growing pressure to relieve dire overcrowding in the county jail system, company officials added that they would be receptive at least to talking about the property. Two supervisors said Thursday that they expect the board to authorize formal negotiations when it meets on Dec. 18.

“We’re certainly sympathetic to the county’s needs for a jail and a landfill,” said Dawn McCormick, an Irvine Co. spokeswoman. “We would be willing to talk to the county if they are ready to approach us.”

The company’s willingness to tackle the issue in negotiations by no means suggests that it has suddenly decided to sell the canyon land, officials stressed. But the prospect of a formal negotiation--which has the potential to break a three-year stalemate among the supervisors over the jail issue--worried opponents of the Gypsum Canyon proposal and heartened its supporters.

“I always knew the Irvine Co. was a good corporate citizen,” said Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who backs the Gypsum Canyon jail. “I’m delighted that they’ve taken such a positive position.”

In Anaheim, where opposition to the jail runs deep, Intergovernmental Relations Officer Kristine Thalman said the prospect of any negotiations is “very much a concern to the city of Anaheim.” She added, however, that city officials remain hopeful that they can annex the property and prevent its conversion into a jail site.

Representatives of the county and company previously have discussed the county’s interest in Gypsum Canyon, but talks have been informal and have reportedly made little progress. This time, however, a majority of the county supervisors is angling to open formal negotiations, and they may be prepared to offer the company 100 acres of land near El Toro--where the James A. Musick Branch Jail is located--as part of the bargain.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, a Gypsum Canyon supporter, said Thursday that she and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley have prepared a proposal directing the county administrative officer to open negotiations with the Irvine Co. That proposal will come up for a vote on Dec. 18, and Wieder predicted that it would pass.

“My thrust is to move ahead,” said Wieder, who called the Irvine Co.’s willingness to talk about the property “very encouraging.”

Stanton, who would join Wieder and Riley in giving that proposal the three votes it needs to pass, agreed that approval is likely.

If approved, the county would enter the high-stakes negotiations in an awkward position, since it has virtually no cash to spare: The government coffers have been badly drained by increasing demand for local services and declining state support.

But Stanton and other county officials note that trading the 100 acres at Musick--around which developers are already constructing office buildings near the Irvine Spectrum--might sharply lower the purchase price of the Gypsum Canyon land.

County officials do not have firm estimates of land costs in either location, but some land development experts say the county could reasonably expect to fetch $50 million to $100 million for the Musick land.

The Gypsum Canyon land was recently valued at $18 million to $65 million in a county administrative office report, but some officials have dismissed those estimates as woefully low. Supervisor Don R. Roth, who opposes the Gypsum Canyon jail, has predicted that land there could be worth up to $1 billion.

In either case, supporters of the canyon jail note that trading the Musick land--or selling it and using the money to help buy Gypsum Canyon--would represent a significant chunk of the purchase price.

McCormick, of the Irvine Co., declined to comment on the firm’s potential interest in the Musick land.

“I don’t know what kinds of restrictions there might be on development of that property,” McCormick said. “It seems reasonable that we would look at anything they would propose.”