Plan for Courthouse to Proceed, Cox Says

Orange County Congressman Christopher Cox said Wednesday that construction of a new federal courthouse in Santa Ana will proceed as planned, after a last-minute delay ordered by Clinton Administration budget watchers.

The official announcement is expected to be made today in Washington by the General Services Administration. It removes the final obstacle to construction of the courthouse and clears the way for a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for July 15.

“I’m delighted,” said Cox (R-Newport Beach), who has spent more than a year shepherding the project through Congress. “This will relieve greatly the (court) backlog in Los Angeles and also permit people in Orange County to have access to the federal courts.”

The courthouse plan was stalled in September when Vice President Al Gore’s plan to “reinvent government” was adopted with a plank that called for all of the proposed courthouses in the nation to be reviewed to see if they were necessary and cost-effective.

During a review of the Santa Ana project, Cox said, the courthouse was found to be necessary and it was approved with only minor reductions. Despite earlier concerns, he said, the review also did not add any delays to the project’s original schedule.

Cox said the courthouse will be built with one less floor than it had in original designs. An underground parking area for judges and staff with more than 300 spaces was also cut in half and less expensive building materials will be used in some of the construction.

However, the new courthouse will contain the same number of courtrooms as originally planned, and Cox said it will mean that Orange County can stop sending many of its federal cases to Los Angeles.

“It has been my goal to obtain the maximum amount of court space for the lowest reasonable cost,” Cox said. “I congratulate Roger Johnson.”

Cox said he was told about the developments Wednesday by Roger Johnson, head of the GSA. Johnson, coincidentally, is the former head of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine and the highest ranking Republican serving in the Clinton Administration.

With the changes, Cox said the final cost of the project will be $120 million, down from $168 million in the original designs.

More than $6 million has already been spent to design the facility, which will be named after former President Ronald Reagan. Congress also gave approval this year to spend $103 million on the project. The balance will be submitted to Congress again next year.

Cox also disclosed that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at groundbreaking ceremonies for the courthouse.