Old Foundations Found Near San Juan Mission : Past May Curtail Renewal

San Juan Capistrano officials may scale back a proposed downtown redevelopment project because of important archeological findings near the 213-year-old Spanish mission, officials said Friday.

“The original plans we had for the downtown are simply not going to fly,” Councilman Kenneth E. Friess said. “It is not possible to do the amount of development we hoped to do because we have a lot of archeological treasures down there.”

Friess was speaking to 30 guests at a breakfast hosted by the city for the Downtown Merchants Assn.

In early 1987, the city Community Redevelopment Agency approved tentative plans by San Diego-based developer Oliver McMillan for a $28-million Historic Town Center project.

The proposed 6-acre project in the heart of town included a 125-room hotel, retail shops, restaurants and a realignment of Ortega Highway.

Studies Completed

Archeological studies of the redevelopment agency-owned property on El Camino Real, one block southeast of the mission, were completed last summer by LSA, an Irvine-based environmental planning firm.

The City Council, which also acts as the redevelopment agency board of directors, had said it would not draft formal plans for the downtown project until the studies were completed.

To the surprise of the council and local historians, the archeological probe begun in January, 1988, uncovered previously undocumented foundations of 18th-Century adobe buildings believed to be associated with the Mission San Juan Capistrano complex.

Last month, redevelopment agency directors hired the Los Angeles-based archeological consulting firm Greenwood & Associates to help interpret the findings, which were detailed in a 4-inch-thick study released by LSA in May.

“It would not be inconceivable to me to find a whole lot of nothing being done,” said Friess, who is also chairman of the redevelopment agency. “This archeological study has changed the whole ballgame.

“I don’t know at this time what the plans will be,” he continued. “But anything that happens will be some distance in the future.”

Shift of Buildings

Councilman Anthony L. Bland agreed that construction in the redevelopment area will likely be postponed. He said some of the proposed buildings could be shifted elsewhere downtown.

“No one has said we’re abandoning the project, but everything is on hold until we can decide where it can go,” Bland said. “We need to find out what we can do with what we have, and where it will fit in. There are some other areas where it could be built.”

He said the other areas would be “in the historic downtown,” but he would not specify which parts.

Land adjoining the south portion of the redevelopment area contains Birtcher Plaza offices, owned by the Birtcher development company. Birtcher placed second behind Oliver McMillan when city officials chose a builder for the redevelopment project.

A county-owned parcel directly east of the acreage, on Del Obispo Street, contains a fire station that is planned for relocation next year to the north end of the city.

Other parts of the city-owned redevelopment area include a Texaco service station on Ortega Highway, a blocklong stretch of buildings across the street from the mission and shops on the east side of Camino Capistrano between the mission and Forster Street.

“We have some serious decisions to make so we can be treating these finds in a manner they deserve and come up with something economically feasible for the city,” Bland said. “It’s not going to be an easy task.”

Friday’s announcement to cut back on the ambitious plan was praised by the Friends of Historic Capistrano, a grass-roots organization devoted to historic preservation that has opposed the redevelopment project.

Group Pleased

“We are very pleased and grateful for the recognition of the facts uncovered by the preliminary archeological digs,” said Bob Dunn, spokesman for Friends of Historic Capistrano.

“This has always been titled the Historic Town Center, and now we know it’ll really be historic,” he said. “We are certainly anxious to work with the city to make the best use of this feature.”

Local business people also applauded the news.

“A lot of people in San Juan Capistrano are going to be happy,” said Darlene Perrault, who owns a downtown monogramming shop.

Plans to realign Ortega Highway with Verdugo Street are still being considered, Friess said, so that a walking plaza can be built near the entrance to the mission.

The restructured Ortega Highway will be linked to a four-level parking structure near the Capistrano Depot, one block south of the historic mission.