Hotel Dispute Revived in San Juan Capistrano : City planning: Mayor Gil Jones says downtown development proposal still makes sense. The reaction from preservationists is shock and anger.

Admitting that he could spark another uproar from the city’s vocal historical preservationists, Mayor Gil Jones said he favors bringing back a controversial and discarded proposal to build a hotel complex in the city’s revered downtown.

“I’m going to commit political suicide,” Jones said this week to preface his remarks. “(But) I think we should revisit the original (hotel) plan. It was a good plan. . . . We have it in place now . . . and there are ways to generate the funds to do it.”

Jones’ remarks came as a shock to those in the audience who remembered the firestorm that the hotel proposal touched off involving rival city factions before it was scrapped two years ago in the heat of the last city election.

“What is he doing? This is ridiculous,” whispered David Belardes in the back of the council chambers. Belardes, as chairman of the Juaneno Indian Band, was one of the most outspoken opponents of the old proposal.

“We can’t turn back the clock,” said City Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer, who was mayor when the hotel plan was scuttled. “We certainly can’t do so tonight.”

But even on Wednesday, without winning much support from his fellow council members, Jones did not back down.

“The time has come to go about doing what we were elected to do, that is stand up and make some decisions,” Jones said. “We can’t chase our tails any longer.”

Ever since the downtown hotel complex was scuttled, city officials have grappled with what to do to replace it. A new plan for a historical park and plaza, called the Historic Town Center, was unveiled in June, 1990, and a city committee that included many preservationists was formed to study it.

But it is Jones’ contention that the new plan contains none of the financial returns for the city that were built into the old plan.

“Right now we have a park and a few little amenities that won’t pay for the water” to irrigate it, Jones said.

Under the original proposal, which was promoted as a way to breathe new economic and festive life into the historic downtown, a six-acre commercial site across Ortega Highway from Mission San Juan Capistrano would be partly revamped to include a 125-room hotel, restaurant and a large retail complex. Ortega Highway would be rerouted through town to make room for a plaza in front of the mission.

To move the project along, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency bought the downtown site, including historic landmarks, such as the Swallows Inn and the El Peon retail complex, for $5 million in 1987. After a lengthy face-off among builders seeking the job, a San Diego mall developer, Oliver McMillan, was selected.

But talk of changing the ancient heart of the city touched off an uproar. A preservation group, the Friends of Historic San Juan Capistrano, was formed to counterattack.

Throughout 1988 and 1989, under prodding by the Friends group, the city spent $1 million on archeological excavations at the site. After unearthing previously unknown 18th-Century adobe foundations, the City Council backed down.

But fallout from that council decision still haunts its members, primarily because the city still owns the downtown acreage, which city officials agree has become a financial burden.

In today’s economic market, Jones said, it would be difficult to sell the downtown landmarks for a proper price, given the restraints that the city would place on the buyer in regard to making changes.

Jones said he believes that taxpayers, if they want to preserve landmarks and downtown, should be given a chance to buy the property. City voters did just that in April, 1990, when they overwhelmingly agreed to tax themselves to save open farmland in rural parts of the city.

“A developer with any brains is not going to buy this,” Jones said. “Either we assess it to the rest of the city, and let them (voters) decide if they want to buy it, or bring a developer in and let him build. We can’t let this thing keep hanging over our heads.”

Any new archeological finds on the property can be preserved as they have been on another controversial downtown project, Franciscan Plaza, Jones said.

As expected, historic preservationists reacted sharply against Jones’ plan.

“Resurrecting the old Oliver McMillan plan would not only insult the people who have worked on the Historic Town Center committee but would be an insult to the public at large,” said Mark Clancey, chairman of the Friends group.

“The response to that plan was clear,” he said. “It was too ambitious--and it could be argued that it was greedy--to take a precious and historic property and build a three-story commercial complex on it.”

Belardes said: “It’s ridiculous to start this thing up again. That property is the beginning of this city and the county. We can’t blow it away for a hotel-motel.”