Aliso Viejo : County Eyes Property for Sheriff’s Substation

A 27,000-square-foot building and an adjacent lot may soon be the new South County substation of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, replacing the 17-year-old facility in Laguna Niguel.

The department, which has been working out of trailers on the grounds of the South Orange County Municipal Court, announced Tuesday that it is negotiating to buy the property at 11 Journey for $3.4 million, a price estimated to be $75,000 below its appraised value.

The Mission Viejo Co., developer of unincorporated Aliso Viejo, owns the lot, while a limited partnership called Windrose Pacific Associates owns the building and land at 11 Journey, according to county records.

The $3.4 million has been collected over the past eight years from developers’ fees earmarked specifically for the substation project, said Capt. Tim Simon, who heads the South County division for the department.

The cost, he said, “includes the building, the lot, the build-out, the landscaping, everything,” Parking will be provided for 250 vehicles, he said.

Simon said the department has been looking for a new facility for several years, and that a move for his 300-member force is long overdue.

Another South County substation on the east side of Interstate 5 is to be established in the Rancho Santa Margarita area in the next three to five years, he said.

“This will solve our immediate problem and get us out of these quarters,” Simon said. “We’re at a point now where it is just horrendous here. I have 80 people now who don’t have a locker. They use their cars for lockers.”

The South Operations Division of the Sheriff’s Department patrols all of the county south of the El Toro Y except Laguna Beach. The area includes seven incorporated cities and 450,000 people, Simon said.