Officials Shouldn’t Rush to Judgment on Musick

Government documents call them LULUs, an appropriate acronym. It means “local undesirable land uses.” LULUs are usually found in the neighborhood of NIMBY, or “not in my backyard.” These days, Lake Forest and Irvine are ground zero for two LULUs.

One is the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, due to close by 1999, and the proposals that the county use the property for an international civilian airport. The other is the expansion, or transformation, of the James A. Musick Branch Jail, which, like the airport, is in unincorporated territory and thus comes under the provenance of Orange County. The county has prepared a legally required environmental impact report discussing changing Musick from the current 1,000 or so inmates, all classified as minimum security, to a new jail with over 7,000 inmates, including medium- and maximum-security.

The report is a starting point, providing the basis for reinvigorating discussion of the county’s jail needs, which are great. It does not mean a final decision on construction will be made soon; no such decision should be made without much discussion and debate.

The confluence of what South County residents see as two disasters in their backyard--a maximum-security jail and an around-the-clock airport--understandably has people upset. Many moved to South County to get away from perceived urban institutions like airports and jails. However, with South County now accounting for about 30% of the total county population of about 2.5 million, and for about 25% of those arrested each year, residents at some site or other have to be ready to shoulder their share of the burden when it comes to jail sites.

Sheriff Brad Gates has been forced to release tens of thousands of inmates before their jail terms are up to make room behind bars for those charged with more serious crimes. The county has been talking about expanding Musick for over a decade and now says even if the 7,000 jail beds are built on the 100-acre site, it will only handle the county’s jail needs for another decade.

The main attraction of Musick for the county is that the property is county-owned and available for conversion. El Toro, another possible site, will not be vacated by the Marines until 1999, which many believe is too long to wait. Still, the base deserves serious condition, not the quick brush-off given by the county panel studying the reuse of El Toro. That panel said El Toro was unsuitable for a jail because the base is intended as a moneymaker for the county after the Marines leave. The county needs to look at El Toro again.

Orange County is hoping to get money for jail construction from a bond measure on the ballot next month. Some of the funds could go to Musick, but most appear slated for the 2,900-bed expansion of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange. The expansion of Lacy is instructive when it comes to the Musick proposal.

Lacy is on a small plot, just seven acres. The city of Orange battled the county over putting maximum security prisoners there and adding more cells. Supervisor William G. Steiner did good work in brokering a compromise between the two sides to allow more inmates but ensure that not all were rated as maximum security.

Although a major argument in Lake Forest has been that the nearest homes are 700 feet from Musick, Lacy is not that much farther away from a residential neighborhood. The same holds true for the main jail in Santa Ana. The search for a “remote” jail site in Orange County has been illusory for years. Given the county’s small geographic size and large population, any jail will be built near residences.

A key question is whether voters will pay not just to build jails, but to operate them. Five years ago, county voters rejected a proposed half-cent sales tax for new jail construction.

The lack of building and operating funds means the county has a long time in which to get the facts out about the Musick expansion and any alternatives. The jail is an emotional issue to those who moved into the community aware that a small, minimum-security “honor farm” was there and now find themselves facing a maximum-security jail surrounded by a 10-foot fence. County officials will have to explain their moves every step of the way and ensure they are not overburdening any city or region with LULUs.