A New San Juan Amid the Old : Redevelopment: A plan designed to accent the downtown area will be discussed tonight. It has been scaled back, but there is still opposition.

An ambitious plan to bring new life to this city’s historic downtown area while preserving its colorful past will be discussed tonight when the City Council unveils details of its long-awaited redevelopment-design project.

As envisioned, the plans call for a complete overhaul of a six-acre commercial area in front of the 214-year-old Mission San Juan Capistrano. Some of the old landmarks, like the Swallows Inn saloon and some antique shops, will remain.

But streets would be rerouted, and part of the area would be transformed into a picturesque pedestrian plaza that would, officials say, beckon tourists from behind the mission walls and lure local residents away from shopping malls.

The project area would be renamed Historic Town Center and would be built in an area that Indians, bandits, cowboys and early farming pioneers have all called home. The property, located one block south of the mission, was purchased in 1987 for $5 million by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Some city officials see the plan as the final stage in an aggressive downtown renovation campaign that already has seen the construction of the Franciscan Plaza, a commercial center with five theaters and restaurants, and the remodeling of the 1895 Capistrano Depot where the Amtrak San Diegan passenger train makes daily stops.

“I want the downtown to be an important part of the community again,” said Councilman Lawrence F. Buchheim, whose family settled in the area at the turn of the century.

The Historic Town Center, which calls for a 3.5-acre archeological park and the preservation of two historic buildings on old El Camino Real, seeks to create what Councilman Kenneth E. Friess called a community focal point through the creation of a plaza where shoppers and residents can stroll and relax amid the rich history of old San Juan.

“It creates an open-space focus that will bring people back to the downtown as a gathering place,” Friess said. “We want to try in some way to put people’s minds at rest that we’re not going to go in and build there.”

Friess said the start of construction may still be some time off, depending on how the public and the council react to the plans. The idea of renovating the area has been around for some time and has gone through several changes.

In 1985, plans for the same area called for a 125-room hotel, restaurant, shops and a walking plaza, sparking opposition from a broad coalition of residents who wanted the historic aspects of the area preserved. Officials hope the latest proposal appeases those concerns.

The latest plans include:

* A realignment of Ortega Highway to Verdugo Street, the entrance to the Capistrano Depot and Franciscan Plaza. Where Ortega Highway now cuts in front of the mission, a pedestrian walkway would be created.

* The creation of the 3.5-acre park behind the strip of shops along Camino Capistrano where important archeological research is continuing. In that same area--part of which is now a dirt parking lot--an amphitheater would be built.

* Using the existing Blas Aguilar Adobe, an adobe home built in the early 19th Century, as a museum site.

* Preserving Redevelopment Agency-owned businesses such as the Swallows Inn bar, the popular Old Barn Antiques and the El Peon gift shop.

* Feeding tourist traffic from Interstate 5 into a proposed double-deck parking lot behind businesses on Del Obispo Street and into two lots on the north and south end of the redevelopment area.

Despite the city’s hopes of appeasing local opposition, members of Friends of Historic San Juan Capistrano, formed in 1987 to oppose the city’s original plans, have criticized the scaled-back version, especially the groundwork that would be needed to realign Ortega Highway.

The city has spent $1 million since 1988 in excavating the area in front of the mission, uncovering numerous Indian and 18th-Century mission-era artifacts and building foundations. Some local critics worry that any large-scale redevelopment might hinder further archeological research.

“The project looks a lot better, but how can they even talk about realignment until they know what (else) is in the ground?” said David Belardes, a descendant of the area’s native Juaneno Indians and a founding member of the group. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”

City Manager Stephen B. Julian said he is proposing that the city own and operate the proposed park and encourage the creation of a nonprofit organization that would raise funds for future archeological exploration of the park and vacant lots on the west side of El Camino Real.

However, a former Pacific Bell office building on El Camino Real may be converted to some retail-oriented use, Julian said.

Friess said the once-proposed hotel and related retail outlets may be shifted to nearby properties, such as the Birtcher Plaza office park directly south of the site and the area north of the Ortega Highway, next to Interstate 5.