SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Councilman Steps In to Save Tower

An old water tower teetering precariously on rotted wooden legs near the historic Buddy Forster home is slated to come down soon, but Councilman Jerry Harris plans to step in to preserve the landmark.

In a spur-of-a-moment decision at the City Council meeting Tuesday, Harris said he will pay to relocate the water tower to another site, most likely the Rancho Sierra Vista equestrian center.

“I probably should have gone to look at the thing first,” Harris said Wednesday, laughing. “I’ll stick to my word. It’s just going to be a little more difficult than I envisioned when I made the offer.”

Several volunteers, including Councilman Kenneth E. Friess and Mayor Gil Jones, have offered to help Harris move the tower from its home at 25232 Camino del Avion.

“You talk about getting crazy,” Friess said. “But I think it was the best we could do.”

The 20-foot-high, leaning tower, built in the 1930s to provide water to the second floor of the home of Buddy Forster--whose family are longtime South County ranchers who once owned Mission San Juan Capistrano--became the center of debate earlier this year when property owner John Forster, worried about its safety, sought to demolish it. A city inspector agreed and ordered it to be either razed or reconstructed.

But when Forster went to apply for a city demolition permit, he got a different story.

In April, the city Environmental Review Board ruled that Forster would first have to pay for a study, probably costing about $500, on the architectural and historical significance of the tower.

At the same time, residents of neighboring Harbor Lane Homes urged the city to preserve the tower, saying its demolition would “rob us of another small but important piece of our history.”

At one point, Forster offered to donate the tower to the city, although officials said they could not afford the estimated $5,000 cost of moving and rehabilitating the tower.

Forster eventually appealed the decision, which the City Council unanimously upheld Tuesday, allowing the tower to come down.

“This is a real classic,” said Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer, expressing disbelief about the “Catch-22” Forster experienced. “I feel sorry for these people. This is like a bad joke.”

City officials say the tower is eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places since it once served the water needs of the historic Forster home and family. It is one of three remaining water towers in the city.