No Dice, Townsfolk Say of Planned 7-Eleven

The question of whether a 24-hour convenience store should be constructed opposite a 125-year-old church in a historic zone here is the hottest controversy to hit this Gold Rush town in years.

Many residents of Sonora (pop. 3,800) say the proposed 7-Eleven store would be an eyesore in a town that is reputed to have the best collection of Victorian homes in the Mother Lode. On the main street are row after row of original brick-and-frame shops built between the 1850s and the turn of the century.

Opponents also say the store would bring rowdy behavior to the vicinity of Piety Hill, at the north end of the business district, where the dark red wooden St. James Episcopal Church stands. One of the most photographed churches in the state, St. James is also the oldest Episcopalian church in California to have remained in continuous use.

Miners Lured to Area

Originally settled in 1848 by miners from Sonora, Mexico, who gave the town its name, Sonora soon became the largest Gold Rush camp in the Mother Lode and attracted miners from throughout the United States as well as Mexico, China, Chile and France.

The miners, gamblers, con men, outlaws and prostitutes who were the town’s pioneers probably would be amused by the current brouhaha. Known as the “queen of the southern (Mother Lode) mines,” Sonora during its heyday was the richest, wildest gold camp in the West.

In 1983, the City Council voted 3 to 2 to give Southland Corp., the Dallas-based firm that operates the 7-Eleven chain, permission to build a convenience store on the vacant lot across from the Red Church, as it is known locally.

Nearly all of the 400 parishioners are dead-set against the project, church authorities say. Nine-hundred residents have signed a petition opposing it, and a citizens group recently obtained a court injunction halting construction until a hearing is held.

Fear of Loitering Youths

For Lorraine Ramsgard, secretary of the church Sunday school, the proposed 7-Eleven raises the prospect of “high school kids hanging around the place all hours of the day and night, buying six-packs of beer, drinking the beer and smoking cigarettes in the store’s parking lot.”

City Councilwoman Sharon Marovich voted against the 7-Eleven proposal. “People come to Sonora to see the church and the historic homes and stores--not to see a 7-Eleven,” she said in an interview. “They can go to 7-Elevens at home.”

Among the council members who voted for the permit was Larry Rotelli. He said there is precedent for the 7-Eleven in the fact that three years ago, a 100-year-old building was torn down and replaced with a law office built in Mother Lode style.

“Nobody kicked up any fuss when that happened,” said Rotelli, now a member of the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors.

“In good conscience, this is a matter of property rights,” Rotelli continued. “The proposed building meets all legal obligations. The opposition doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

City Atty. James A. Boscoe agrees, and he also happens to be representing Southland in this matter. “I too am in favor of preserving the historic character of the downtown area,” Boscoe said. “This store is not going to destroy that character. It will enhance it.”

Boscoe said no conflict of interest exists because he did not become city attorney until last May, a year after the project was approved. He has been retained by Southland since 1982.

After the council vote, a local group of history buffs, calling themselves Citizens For Historic Compatibility, raised $20,000, mostly through art auctions and rummage sales, and unsuccessfully sued the city. They argued that planners ignored state environmental quality rules in issuing the permit.

Injunction Halts Construction

The group appealed, and the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno issued an injunction Feb. 5 halting construction of the store--designed to have arched windows and a wooden facade so as to be compatible with adjacent structures--until a hearing on the matter is held this summer. The Southland Corp. had already graded the half-acre lot and built a sidewalk.

If the appellate court finds the permit valid, construction of the store could begin immediately, Boscoe said.