Laguna Hills Files Suit Against State-Run Project Roomkey

LAGUNA HILLS, CA — An Orange County Superior Court judge has stopped short of granting Laguna Hills' request for a temporary restraining order to block the county's plan to house transients infected with the coronavirus in the Laguna Hills Inn, though he indicated he may yet do so.

After Orange County opened up the 76-bed Laguna Hills Inn on the 23000 block of Avenida de la Carlota, Wednesday to transients under Project Roomkey, a state program in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city has filed for the restraining order.

The county of Orange, tasked with finding a proper hotel or space to house south county transients infected with the virus, chose the 76-bed site in Laguna Hills. This is the third location to join one that is already open in the city of Orange, and a Stanton hotel preparing to open its doors. The program effectively quarantines transients with underlying health conditions as well as provides a safe place for transients who test positive for the virus to self-isolate while recovering from the disease.

Laguna Hills's actions follow a similar move by the city of Laguna Woods, who refused the admission of homeless infected with coronavirus last month at the Ayres Hotel. The county backed off from that 138-bed hotel, turning to nearby Laguna Hills instead.

The city will be the first in California to attempt to halt the process. The lawsuit, filed earlier this week in Orange County Superior Court, alleges the county is creating a "public nuisance" that will "directly endanger the health and safety of the residents of the city."

Importing south Orange County's sickened homeless people into the small hotel in the small town would be devastating for Laguna Hills, officials say. Thus far, the city "has thus far only had minimal occurrences of the virus."

The Orange County Health Care Agency, who keeps counts of area's sick COVID-19 positive residents, currently shows 13 cases within city limits. With a population of just over 31,000 residents, Laguna Hills City Manager Don White says the Project Roomkey would raise that number by "at least 600 percent.

"Our city took this extreme action because we have been put in an extreme position by this project," Laguna Hills Mayor Janine Heft said. "It is horrifying to propose to place a substantial number of COVID-19 patients in the Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods vicinity, where there are over 20,000 of the persons most at-risk— seniors. We could not stand by and watch this happen."

The lawsuit further alleges that the hotel "is also only 250 meters away from a high-density mobile home park of 252 residences, comprised of mostly families, and including a significant percentage of high-risk elderly residents."

The lawsuit alleges that "without adequate safety protocols," the project is a "public nuisance."

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett doesn't disagree with the city's tactic, but the county must adhere to Gov. Gavin Newsom's mandate.

"The city elected officials are doing what they need to do to feel like they're protecting or representing their residents to the best of their ability," she said. The county must set up these self-isolation facilities under the order of Project Roomkey.

Bartlett said the hotels are "24-7, lockdown isolation facilities," meaning the transients who opt into the program are not free to come and go as they please.

Health care workers who tend to them will also leave the area immediately after their shifts are done, Bartlett said.

"All medical services are done on the premises. Food services are done on-premises," Bartlett said. "Health care workers, when they leave for the daym they follow the same protocols as in a hospital and will walk out to their vehicle and drive out of the area so that they won't be remaining in the area at all."

The hotel will only house transients based in south Orange County, Bartlett said.

The concerns of Laguna Hills are moot at this point, according to Bartlett, who says that as of this report, no homeless have tested positive for coronavirus in south Orange County.

"So this isolation facility may never even be used, but pursuant to the state mandate we had to get a property under contract."

The temporary restraining order hearing will reconvene Monday morning in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

City News Service, Patch editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.

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