Youth Jail Site Search Slowed by Cities’ Opposition

With a deadline rapidly approaching, county officials said Tuesday they are running into community opposition in efforts to find a site for a much-needed juvenile justice center.

Chief probation officer Cal Remington said Ventura County risks losing up to $60 million in state and federal funds if a 30-acre site is not pinned down by mid-March.

That’s when the county Correction Services Agency must submit its application to the state Board of Corrections for a share of the $177 million in state and federal money set aside for juvenile justice facilities this year. By March 17, the county must select the location, pledge to raise 25% of the center’s estimated cost and agree to staff and open the facility when it’s completed.

Remington is meeting with other county officials today to brainstorm possible sites. Later this week, probation officials will ask the county finance committee for its help in raising the money. And on March 9, they will address the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, which must approve the application before submission.

“Most counties around the state need assistance in renovating or building new juvenile justice centers,” Remington said. “And there is just not enough money to go around. There may not be money next year, and this is an opportunity we just don’t want to miss.”

He said Ventura County has a better chance of receiving funds for the new facility if it locks down a site in the next few weeks. The county will apply for $80 million in state and federal funds, but Remington said he would be happy with $30 million. He estimates the entire complex could cost more than $100 million to build. And if the county doesn’t receive enough money, the center would have to be built incrementally. The justice center would bring together all of the branches of the scattered juvenile justice system into one central complex. It would hold up to 420 juvenile offenders, including 240 at the detention facility and 180 at two separate camps. The center would also house six juvenile courtrooms, along with all of the court-related agencies, including the district attorney, the public defender and probation.

City officials throughout the county support the idea of a new juvenile justice center, given that the old one in Ventura is as “antiquated” and “inadequate” as it is overcrowded, according to a 1997 inspection by the state Board of Corrections. They just don’t want it within their city limits.

“We already have two detention centers in and around Camarillo, and that’s plenty for us,” Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said. “I say let somebody else share the wealth.”

Santa Paula Mayor Jim Garfield said his city has done its fair share in providing services for people in need, and does not want the new center built within Santa Paula’s city limits.

“We have the county jail here,” Garfield said. “And thank you very much, we don’t want anything else.”

And Oxnard City Councilman John Zaragoza said residents would not support a youth correctional facility within one of the city’s neighborhoods or business communities.

The key is showing city leaders that the complex is not a jail with bars, but rather a center with courtrooms and classrooms, said County Supervisor Judy Mikels, whose top priority for 1999 is building the facility.

“We’ll have to help people get through the ‘oh, my gosh’ reaction and show them the positive--that the central location benefits their community and the county as a whole,” Mikels said.

In addition to city opposition, the probation agency has had trouble finding an affordable and suitable location free of obstacles.

County land at the Camarillo Airport was eliminated because of Federal Aviation Administration restrictions. Property on Lewis Road, formerly part of the state hospital, may be rejected because of its proximity to the proposed Cal State Channel Islands. And a site off Rose Avenue in Oxnard is near a business park and may be too expensive to acquire.

The probation agency is now considering industrial areas in the unincorporated parts of Ventura County. Because the center must be centrally located, Remington said he is concentrating primarily on land just outside Camarillo.

Mikels said she plans to do everything she can to help find a site before the deadline, but warned against rushing into a decision. She said the complex is critical because of the space crunch at juvenile hall.

“With the gang issues, you have overcrowding and it’s a pressure cooker waiting to blow,” Mikels said. “And things are not going to get any better until there’s a new center.”

The new complex would relieve overcrowding at the county’s juvenile hall, which can officially house 84 offenders but has an average daily population of 115 and sometimes as many as 140 teens. In 1997, 1,300 juveniles who would have been booked into juvenile hall in Ventura County were refused because of overcrowding.

Three other facilities house juvenile offenders throughout the county, but there are fewer than 300 beds available.

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren said there is simply not enough space. Because of the shortage, judges are forced to place juveniles on probation in many cases when they would like to place them in juvenile hall.

“It’s a terrible thing the court is confronted with,” Perren said. “Courts should never be in the position of wanting to accomplish a task and not being able to do. It’s imperative that we find a site.”

Law enforcement and probation officers are also affected by the lack of space. Police officers may only cite juveniles who they would like to take into custody. And probation officers may just slap teens on the wrist for violating probation, rather than sending them back into a locked facility.

If the state approves the application, Ventura County would receive the funds this fall and the county would be required to build the center within three years.