Court Clears Way for Jail Expansion

Rejecting a legal challenge filed by South County cities, an appeals court Friday cleared the way for the Sheriff’s Department to build what would be Orange County’s largest jail near a residential area of Lake Forest.

The ruling removes a major barrier in the decade-long effort to expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail and ease chronic overcrowding that has plagued the jail system.

The court unanimously threw out a judge’s earlier ruling that the county had failed to examine how massive expansion plans for the Musick jail would affect nearby homes and businesses.

In delivering a decisive victory to the county, the appeals court also provided a much-needed boost to backers of a compromise that would scale back plans to build what opponents call a “super jail” at the site.

The compromise, approved earlier this week by Lake Forest and the county Board of Supervisors, comes before a newly sworn-in Irvine City Council on Tuesday, where it is expected to be defeated.

But citing Friday’s ruling, supporters of the deal called on Irvine to approve its terms, arguing that the appeals court has dashed all hope of stopping expansion of Musick.

“This indicates to Irvine that they should approve the agreement on Tuesday,” said Lake Forest Councilman Peter Herzog. “There’s no question that it’s in the best interest of the residents and businesses of Lake Forest and Irvine to bring this matter to a close.”

Opponents of the compromise, who make up a majority of the Irvine council’s new members, said they still believe the terms of the agreement are unacceptable.

Current expansion plans, which were drawn up to ease chronic overcrowding in the county’s jail system, would allow the Sheriff’s Department to house up to 7,968 maximum-security inmates at Musick. The site is 700 feet from homes in Lake Forest.

The compromise instead calls for up to 4,440 low-security beds at the facility, built over the next 15 years. The county also must try to find an alternative jail site away from homes.

But Chris Mears, who will be sworn in to the Irvine City Council on Tuesday, said he and his colleagues will consider filing an appeal or asking the court to reconsider the matter. Council members, he said, will also review other options, such as trying to find a new jail site.

“We think we can solve the problem,” he said.

The appeals court ruling dealt opponents of expansion their second legal blow in two weeks. On Dec. 1, a separate court struck down Measure F, an initiative that would have required two-thirds voter approval for jail expansion near homes as well as other public works projects.

Both the county and the two South County cities had appealed 1997 rulings by a San Luis Obispo judge who found that a county environmental impact report failed in some instances--and succeeded in others--to examine the effects of the project.

But in a ruling based on narrow legal grounds, all three appellate judges rejected arguments made by the cities and sided with the county. They agreed that Judge Warren Conklin set too high a standard for the environmental impact report and that the county had adequately reviewed the project’s effects on surrounding areas.

“I’m thrilled to bits,” said Jack Golden, deputy county counsel.

For more than two decades, Orange County has been under a federal court order to reduce chronic jail overcrowding. Hundreds of thousands of inmates have been granted early releases to make room for incoming offenders, and officials last year blamed the tight conditions on jailhouse disturbances.