Santa Paula Suit Seeks to Shut Off Jail Funds : Courts: City officials, who also want the rescind the county’s purchase of the site, say they are trying to preserve the area’s agricultural lands.

Santa Paula on Wednesday asked Ventura County Superior Court to bar the county from spending any more money to build a new jail southwest of the city.

The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate a General Plan amendment and a zoning change enacted to accommodate the proposed $52-million jail.

In addition, the suit asks the court to rescind the condemnation and purchase of the land from Michael and Nancy Brucker, trustees of the Brucker family trust. The jail would be built on a 157-acre lemon orchard on Todd Road south of the Santa Paula Freeway.

Santa Paula Mayor John F. Melton said the city filed suit to protect the farming industry on which the community is based.

“This is for the preservation of agricultural lands,” he said.

Jail opponents also contend that building a jail on agricultural land will open the area to further development and hamper farm operations.

In addition, opponents question whether there’s enough ground water to serve a new jail over the long term.

City Councilwoman Margaret Ely, who along with Melton and Councilman Alfonso C. Urias voted Tuesday to sue the county, said the area’s limited water supply may be taxed and agricultural interests squeezed if the new jail is built near Santa Paula.

“We haven’t had to go on water rationing yet in Santa Paula because of our wells,” Ely said. “But if we are in a 20-year drought cycle, we would be in a lot of trouble. There would also be pressure on agriculture to cut back because humans are always more important than trees.”

Ely’s comments came amid findings by the Ventura County Water Resources and Development Department that the area’s water table has reached its lowest levels since record-keeping began in 1928.

Although the Santa Paula basin is hardly dry, county ground-water hydrologist Luke Hall said the basin’s level has declined in recent years because of increased draws on the water and decreased supply in the four-year statewide drought.

Supervisor Susan K. Lacey on Wednesday said she could not comment on the legal issues raised in the lawsuit, and county officials said water questions will be evaluated in an environmental report due this spring.

But Lacey said county plans to put buildings on a corner of the property and leave about 90 acres of lemon trees intact should have pleased the city of Santa Paula and nearby growers.

“With preserving as much agriculture land at the site as we could, it seemed to be to their benefit and to our benefit,” Lacey said. “I would be really sad if I thought this could disrupt the $31 million flowing from the state, because we must have that money to build any kind of structure.”

The county, whose central jail in Ventura often holds three times its 400-inmate capacity, proposes to build a new jail to house 752 prisoners.

The county will supply $21 million, with the balance coming from state bond funds. The right to $10 million of the state money expires March 30 if the county has not begun construction of the facility. But Robert Braitman, county jail project coordinator, said the county applied last December for an extension to March, 1992. He added that such extensions are common in fund applications.

The county prepared an environmental study of five locations before it chose the Brucker property on Todd Road. But the county did not perform a separate study on the effect of building on Todd Road before it purchased the land, which violates provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act, the lawsuit says.

Supervisors voted in October to amend the county General Plan and the zoning on the property from agricultural to open space. The lawsuit alleges that the county did not follow the proper procedure in making the changes.

But Braitman said the county followed all the correct procedures and fulfilled its legal obligations when it changed the zoning and the General Plan.

The suit also asks the court to return the property, which was purchased by the county for $2.9 million, to its previous owners. Michael and Nancy Brucker could not be reached for comment. But Michael’s uncle, Frank Brucker, who owns property next to the land, said his nephew considered his deal with the county completed.

In addition to the purchase price, Michael Brucker agreed to continue to manage the farmland and keep any profits from lemon-growing through 1993.

If the county moves forward with jail plans, the release of the environmental study this spring will be followed by public hearings. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote this summer on whether to approve the project.