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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Historic Home to Be Cut Up and Stored

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Expressing concern over the high cost of relocating a historic home threatened by development, the City Council voted this week to have the house cut in half and stored until its fate is decided.

The council voted 4 to 1 against a proposal by City Manager Stephen B. Julian that the rickety, wooden house built in 1912 be relocated half a mile away in C. Russell Cook Park.

Some council members were concerned about the estimated $170,000 cost to restore the home. They also opposed the cost of providing state-required flood-protection standards so that it could be located in the park.

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The home at the corner of Ortega Highway and Avenida Siega is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, state officials have said. In a study on widening Ortega Highway and removing a blind curve in front of the home, state officials determined that the house was an obstacle.

A developer has purchased the 2.5-acre home site and in June won approval from the council to build seven houses there.

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