SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Residents View Plans for Center
About 50 people showed up Thursday at City Hall as officials unveiled conceptual proposals for the Historic Town Center, envisioned as the centerpiece of downtown redevelopment.
The five development options being considered range from a 28-room inn and 4,500 square feet of retail space to a 92-room inn and 26,000 square feet of retail space.
People who filled out response forms at the workshop Thursday favored the largest option by a slight margin, followed by the second-largest plan of a 46-room inn and 23,000 square feet of retail space, according to Tom Tomlinson, city planning director.
Another workshop was scheduled for Friday night, allowing more residents to review the proposals. City staff will consider suggestions and make changes if necessary.
Tomlinson said the next workshop will be in mid-November.
Several public meetings have been conducted in the past 18 months involving the future of the city-owned site that straddles El Camino Real, south of Ortega Highway.
In the late 1980s, a proposed 125-room hotel and 70,000-square-foot retail complex for the site drew fierce opposition. Officials later discovered buried adobe foundations, which helped scuttle the project.
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