New Courthouse May Finally Get OK

After more than a decade of fighting for additional space, court officials in south Orange County are on the threshold of getting approval for a new courthouse to replace their severely cramped quarters.

The Board of Supervisors at its Oct. 19 meeting is expected to approve a plan to build a structure next to the existing Laguna Niguel facility off Crown Valley Parkway.

“It’s a ‘Legoland’ courthouse--one that could be expanded as time goes by,” Supervisor Tom Wilson said. “There are 10 courtrooms to satisfy today’s needs, with the ability to add on courtrooms as needed.”

The proposed $29-million courthouse would have 110,000 square feet, more than three times the size of the current building, which has five courtrooms.

As part of the building plan, the county also would spend $350,000 to add a courtroom to the existing facility to ease crowding until the new courthouse opens in about five years.

Once the new building is completed, the smaller courthouse and a three-courtroom complex in Laguna Hills would be closed, according to board documents.

The South County justice center is so crowded now that defendants have been chained to metal chairs in the hallways, jurors have been assembled in a once-condemned firehouse, and defense attorneys have had to meet with clients in a former supply closet.

Last year, court officials even threatened to sue the county if something wasn’t done to ease the overcrowding.

Judges have feared that the shortage of courtrooms in the most packed municipal court in the state could delay trials beyond defendants’ speedy-trial deadlines, usually 10 days after arraignments, and lead to dismissals of charges.

The proposed facility would allow South Court to consolidate its operations, Chief Financial Officer Gary Burton said. “It’s always more efficient when you have your administrative support under one roof,” he said.

Funding for the project is short by $7 million, but the county expects to make that up from expected budget surpluses in the coming years and from revenue from the sale or lease of any abandoned court buildings.

Supervisor Charles V. Smith, the board’s chairman, still is concerned about the funding gap as well as the latest proposal, “which he essentially knows nothing about,” said Smith’s assistant, James Campbell.

Smith will meet next week with Presiding Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary to discuss the proposal along with a previous plan to build at the planned community of Ladera Ranch.

The board had considered building a courthouse in Ladera Ranch, but the $12 million needed to buy land there would be better spent on building on the county’s existing property, said Rick Dostal, the county’s administrative manager.

Another earlier proposal had called for building a 295,000-square-foot, $54-million courthouse in Ladera Ranch. But that proposal involved future growth, something the state will be responsible for since it is taking over county court operations.

The county has to make sure that its courthouses are adequate based on their use in 1996, Burton said. The South County courthouse, however, was overcrowded then, so the county has to expand or build a new facility.

The state, however, will pick up the tab for about $3.3 million for furniture, security, supplies, equipment and other costs at the proposed courthouse.