Report Favors New Government Center : Public services: A county staff document to be presented to the Board of Supervisors concludes that South County residents are spending needless time and money traveling to and from Santa Ana.

South County’s rapid growth during the past several decades has created a booming demand for government services, forcing residents and government workers to spend needless time and money shuttling to and from the county seat here, a new report concludes.

The report, prepared by the County Administrative Office and submitted to the Board of Supervisors for consideration today, recommends that the board move ahead with plans for a major South County government complex to deliver services to the county’s fastest-growing area.

“All the data collected and analyzed as part of this study strongly supports the need for a larger presence of county government in the South County,” the report states. “At present, the existing level of services in the South County are highly decentralized and spread out geographically.”

Supervisors have previously indicated their support for a South County courthouse, and they are expected to approve a $186-million project in concept as well as authorize the first step toward construction. That would involve spending $392,000 this year to pay an architect to develop a final development plan.

“I think this would be money well spent,” said Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who represents much of the area that would be served. “The county seat seems so far away for people in South County. . . . We’ve been talking about this for many years, and in the meantime, it just keeps growing. I think we should move ahead.”

According to the report, South County--roughly the area south and east of a line drawn from Newport Beach along the southern edge of Irvine and east to the Riverside County border--grew by more than three times the rate of the rest of the county during the 1980s. Between now and 2010, South County is expected to grow by more than 10,000 residents per year, an annual growth rate of 2.6%, the report says.

As a result, South County is accounting for an ever-more significant part of the county’s overall population. The area began the ‘80s with 13% of the overall county population, entered the 1990s with about 17%, and is expected to have 22% by 2010.

The population growth has left South County government facilities badly overtaxed. The South County Municipal Courthouse, overwhelmed by an increasing caseload, is already using makeshift quarters. Offices providing other county services are scattered in rented office space that is costing the county $1.6 million annually in leases.

A new 921,000-square-foot facility would eliminate those expenses and put various county programs serving South County residents all in one place. The complex would house law-enforcement workers and county employees involved in health care, social services, building inspection and other programs.

Although the project has important supporters and the need for it is undisputed, significant uncertainties remain: No site has been identified where the center can be built, and there is no definite source of money in the county’s lean budget to pay for it.

Measure J, the half-cent sales tax proposal for jail and court construction, would have provided one potential source of revenue, but voters showed last week that they were overwhelmingly opposed to that idea. Most analysts agree that a ballot measure to fund only court construction would fare even worse.

“Not only are these measures facing stiff competition from other potential ballot measures, but recent polls and statewide election results suggest that it would be very difficult for them to pass even on a simple majority vote,” the report concludes.

Assuming that the county could develop a plan for generating the money to build the center--raising fees for certain county services, levying development fees on new construction or tapping South County cities for their support are all options being considered--a parcel of land would still need to be picked and purchased. So far, the county does not have a specific site in mind.

Several areas have been ruled out for one reason or another, but officials expect to solicit new ideas during the next phase of the project. Most attention has focused on the area in and around Mission Viejo, Riley said, since that is at the center of South County.

“Hopefully, someone will come forward with a site to suggest,” Riley said. “That will be one of the important considerations as we figure out where to go with this.”