Eventual Construction Expected : Diocese Plan to Build on Mission Ruins Delayed Again

The City of San Diego’s Historical Site Board voted for a second time Wednesday to hold up a proposal by the San Diego Catholic Diocese to build on the ruins at Mission San Diego de Alcala. But the diocese plans to wait out the delay and build anyway.

The board’s 7-2 decision was identical to its April vote to reject a multipurpose center designed in the style of the mission’s other buildings. But Deputy City Atty. John Riess said the board can only recommend a six-month delay in granting a building permit, subject to City Council approval. The council also could approve one additional six-month delay.

“We’re going to build the building,” said diocese attorney Don Worley. “If we had come in and wanted to build a high-rise tower, all we’d have to do is wait it out.”

William Schwartz, the attorney for a group of preservationists and archeologists who have opposed the building, said he would not concede that the diocese has that right. Ron May, a member of that group, the Committee for the Preservation of the Mission San Diego de Alcala, suggested that the plan would require a new environmental impact report.

Historical Site Board members sided with preservationists who said the mission’s building plan was different from the one originally presented in 1980. Though the plan includes a 10-foot buffer zone of soil under the building, May told the board that the 20 concrete pilings supporting the structure would damage whatever archeological treasures are left on the site.

“This is a classic case of bait and switch,” May said. “They write an environmental report that makes the public think everything’s going to be fine, and then when they actually go in for their architectural permit, they’re going to drill 20 holes.”

Board members avoided the issue of the concrete pilings in their April decision. They turned down the mission’s proposal because of an apparent change in the size of the building since the 1980 plan, from 4,000 to 8,400 square feet. But Worley convinced the board that the discrepancy was a clerical error and that the diocese was not at fault.

On Wednesday, board members said they were concerned that there might still be items of historical significance on the building site and that the 1980 board had been unable to assess the impact the concrete pilings might have. But they suggested that they might approve the building if the diocese comes up with more information about the archeological remains at the site.