Protest Derails Fountain Valley Halfway House

After hearing residents express fear for their children’s safety, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted against a proposed 50-bed work furlough halfway house near Fountain Valley.

“I feel like a winner today, I really do,” said Peter Ly, 40, a father of two who lives across the street from the proposed facility.

During a hearing, Ly and more than a dozen other parents and residents complained that while probation officials described prospective inmates as “low-risk,” no one had offered any guarantee of safety to them or their children.

“To me, low-risk is risk,” Ly said.

“This is good news for the city and good news for the residents,” said Fountain Valley Mayor Guy Carrozzo after the board voted 4 to 1 to overturn a Planning Commission decision. The city had appealed that decision.

Chairman Chuck Smith, whose district includes Fountain Valley, said he was against the proposed facility after hearing of residents’ fears and also because a halfway house would not conform to Fountain Valley’s zoning laws.

The neighborhood, in county territory but surrounded on three sides by Fountain Valley, is in the city’s general plan for eventual annexation.

“These folks have a right to live without fear,” Smith said. “We owe them that right.”

Supervisor Cynthia P. Coad, who dissented, wanted to postpone the decision for two weeks so staff could answer questions regarding parking, traffic and whether the county should provide street improvements such as sidewalks and gutters.

The proposal called for converting a 13-unit apartment building. The program would be administered by the Orange County Probation Department and the nonprofit Orange County Youth and Family Services.

County probation officials had argued that the facility was needed to free beds in Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange and James A. Musick Branch Jail near Lake Forest.

John B. Robinson, the county’s chief probation officer, said the county had successfully administered two other halfway houses--an 80-bed facility in Buena Park and a smaller, 30-bed furlough halfway house in Anaheim.

Robinson said those houses were a positive addition to their respective communities, resulting in a letter of recommendation by Buena Park Police Chief Richard M. Tefank. But they closed in 1995 because of the county’s bankruptcy.

Robinson, whose department had spent two years in planning for the halfway house, was disappointed after the board’s decision. “We’ll go back and look at what kind of options may or may not be available to us. That’s all I can say,” he said.

The decision was seen as a victory by residents living in the unincorporated pocket.

“I feel relieved,” said Cindy Gleason, a mother of four. “It feels a lot better today, because at the Planning Commission it felt as if they didn’t hear any of our concerns.”

Louise Richardson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, said she was worried about having criminals walking the same streets as her two teenage daughters.

“What are we to do,” Richardson said, “keep our children indoors? Why let the prisoners take over our neighborhood?”