San Juan Capistrano Fears Being Overrun by Growth

With its 200-year-old mission, adobe homes and graceful equestrian lifestyle, San Juan Capistrano stands as a piece of history amid the master-planned communities that have grown up around it.

But as the new towns have swelled, San Juan residents worry that their history-rich village is in danger of being overrun and overwhelmed by southern Orange County’s fast-paced growth.

As some see it, San Juan Capistrano is fast becoming the driveway--the doormat, some say--for residents scurrying home to Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo and Dana Point.

“If you drive through our residential neighborhoods, you’ll see that our streets are not crowded,” said Mayor Wyatt Hart. “This city was well-planned. Our problem is the other communities.”

On any weekday afternoon, the tiny streets of downtown San Juan are choked with commuters getting off the San Diego Freeway at Ortega Highway and heading to the new tracts. With more housing projects and road-widening work looming, city officials worry that the problem may grow worse.

There are plans to widen Ortega Highway, which cuts across the mountains to fast-growing Riverside County. There are proposals to build or tunnel a road through the nearby Cleveland National Forest. And there are the out-of-county trash trucks that head to the landfill just east of the city limits.

Widening Ortega Highway, a winding mountain road that ends at the foot of Mission San Juan Capistrano, would only push the city toward the “failing point,” Hart said. Of equal worry are the 14,000 homes that Rancho Mission Viejo wants to build on nearby unincorporated land.

The city has hired two teams of consultants to figure out strategies for protecting old San Juan from these and other projects.

One team is studying whether the city should annex a sprawling stretch of hillsides and ranchland at its eastern boundary to help control development. The other team, led by Lisa Mills, a former Orange County Transportation Commission chief, is looking at a host of proposed roadway improvements and trying to figure out how each will affect the city. From there, the consultants will draft a battle plan for the city.

“The real issue here is protecting our community from regional traffic and trying to reduce the congestion that already exists,” said Bill Huber, the city’s director of engineering and building.

Finding a way to live with sprawl is an almost inevitable fact of life for historic communities, said Hamid Shirvani, Chapman University provost and an architecture and urban design expert.

“What San Juan Capistrano is facing now is something that began happening 50 years ago on the East Coast and other areas with an older history,” he said. “You have a historic community that was once surrounded by natural areas, and eventually development . . . surrounds it.”

But there are ways to preserve these areas, he said, citing successes in historic Boston, San Antonio and Charlottesville, Va.

San Juan’s success in doing the same, Shirvani said, will be largely dependent on its ability to negotiate with its neighbors, since most of the housing projects and road expansions that stand to affect the city most are beyond its control.

“And we realize that,” said Jennifer Murray, San Juan’s assistant city manager. “We have to be able to work with other government entities on these solutions. We can’t just do it alone.”

Some in town, however, fear the city’s effort is too little, and possibly too late.

“We have precious little time to preserve what we have left,” said Mark Nielsen, co-chairman of Citizens Against Uncontrolled San Juan Expansion.

Nielsen said other communities, such as Carmel and Los Gatos, Calif., were quick to create strict laws and development standards to ensure the towns stayed true to their village roots.

Carmel won’t allow chain and fast-food restaurants in its downtown village, for example. San Juan Capistrano, on the other hand, is teeming with them.

For years, Los Gatos has monitored development in neighboring cities and conducted studies to determine how each project will affect the city--something San Juan is just now beginning to do.

“Certainly, we would have liked to see some of these things being done sooner,” Nielsen said. “But it’s important the staff be given clear direction on the city’s philosophy of preserving the village and its history.”

Though some criticize the city for allowing it to become a gateway to neighboring communities, Nielsen said there are things that San Juan has done right. Protecting hilltops from development is one, an effort that dates back to 1974.

“We’ve gone to court to prevent development on some of the city’s ridgelines, and the outcome has been in the city’s favor,” Murray said. “Development has been minimized because of our success.”

City officials are optimistic the region will find ways to cure the congestion, and they are looking to their consultants to pinpoint the projects that might offer relief. Even building a freeway offramp at the southern end of town would help, they say.

And any project that might worsen congestion in town will be fought, Hart said.

“We will go to battle to protect the city’s charm and historic values,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Under Pressure

San Juan Capistrano officials have hired consultants to study whether road widening projects and other development would worsen congestion in town. Some residents feel the character of the city is at stake.