Supervisors Ask Developers to Revise Courthouse Plans : Project: Board calls for scaled-back complex in South County that would cost $5 million annually for 30 years.

SANTA ANA —  Following a plea from the South Municipal Court presiding judge for more courtrooms, county supervisors voted Tuesday to have four developers submit revised, less costly, proposals for a new court complex.

“There is no more room at the South Court Inn,” Municipal Judge Pamela L. Iles told the Board of Supervisors. “A solution must be found.”

The county is trying to have a private developer build a complex with 19 courtrooms, which the county would lease for 30 years with the option of buying it at the end of the lease for $100. Initially, the developers estimated the project would cost the county at least $10 million annually for the next 30 years. That is roughly twice what the county staff estimates the county can afford.

Instead of abandoning the project, the supervisors voted 5 to 0 Tuesday to ask the developers to scale back their plans so the project would cost about $5 million annually for 30 years. The developers will be asked to reduce the acreage of the project, look for savings in construction costs and modify the lease terms with the county.

“As South County continues to grow, the need for new courtrooms becomes critical,” said board Chairman Thomas F. Riley. “The project remains a top priority and significant work needs to be done.”

The supervisors also directed county staff to evaluate the possibility of expanding the South County court facility on Crown Valley Parkway in Laguna Niguel.

Iles said judges in South County do not have enough space in the existing seven courtrooms to handle an ever-increasing workload.

“In America these days, suing each other often passes for a national pastime,” Iles said. “And . . . with the advent of task force justice programs that focus the energies of law enforcement agencies on crime, we must not forget that the place where all this work ultimately gets done is in the courts.”

Iles said the county has dragged its feet long enough on building a new court complex in South County.

“The court has delayed, deferred, compromised, negotiated and worked with the county. It’s time for resolution of the impending crisis,” she said.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said he will consider the needs of the court officials in South County but that the county is “going to build what we can afford and not anything more.”

He added: “I think South Court should be pleased that for the first time ever, there has been a financial commitment by the board to build a project down there. That is a first.”

In a related development, the supervisors selected a developer to build a $50-million office complex in Santa Ana for the district attorney.

Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi has said that office space is so limited in the Santa Ana courthouse that two attorneys sometimes work in a small office intended for one.

The developer will finance construction of the seven-story building and lease it back to the county for about $5.5 million a year for the next 30 years. At the end of the lease, the county will have the option of buying the building for $100.