DANA POINT : Building’s Purchase by District Aired

At first glance, the deal sounds reasonable.

Fledgling Dana Point Historical Society gets home in 68-year-old building. City gets part of building for museum. Chamber of Commerce leases portion for office space. Local park district foots $1.2-million bill.

But talk with “taxpayers” for the park district and there are potential pitfalls, said Bob Wilberg, a director of the Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District, the group preparing to buy the building.

“I don’t deny the significance of the building, but this deal raises some questions about what we are really doing,” Wilberg said. “Are we buying this to support the chamber? Is the historical society a viable, long-term organization? Should we be spending taxpayers’ funds on this?”

The district wants to buy the building. The society would raise the estimated $500,000 needed to remodel and refurbish the 4,000-square-foot Pacific Coast Highway structure, a Spanish-style former gas station-luncheonette-apartment built in 1924.

Built by Laguna Beach realtor Anna Walters to promote the new community of Dana Point, it could now help launch a fund-raising drive by the 5-year-old society, according to backers of the plan. The building not only has historical significance, but it also offers Coast Highway frontage that they claim will lend their organization the visibility needed to be successful.

“Once the building is acquired, we will become a focal point for the community,” said Doris Walker, a co-founder of the society. “In the process of having a museum there, we will be giving out information and other important services. Everyone would benefit.”

The district, backed by an expanding budget flush with newly won property tax funds, has designated six locations in the city as potential future park sites, including the downtown building.

Wilberg appears to have few allies on the board of directors.

“I’m all in favor of the park district working with the truly historic aspects of our community,” said Director Lynn Muir. “It obviously has to be restored, but if someone doesn’t buy and control these assets, they are lost.”

Muir said the board is planning to ensure that “the building could be self-supporting. To just buy it and let the district taxpayers subsidize it will not happen,” he said.

For director Ed Conway, “no other building in town has this visibility and history. I think it’s vital we preserve the history there.”

Once the district buys the building, the historical society plans to launch a fund-raising drive, said Carlos Olvera, a society board member. If they can raise $10,000 initially, enough to begin the architectural planning, they will know the actual refurbishing costs, he said.

“The goal of $500,000 is just a ballpark figure based on discussions with architects,” Olvera said. “Once we get our fund raising started, we can seek matching grants.”

Wilberg, however, remains skeptical.

“Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to save the building. But I’m just concerned about the mechanics of this and the society’s ability to raise funds these days,” he said. “This thing could blow up in our faces. . . . If two years down the line, the historical society has done nothing and it comes back to us, people here are going to scream.”