Aug. 12–SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Two planned downtown hotels that could have cleared the city approval process this week will face scrutiny from the City Council after the two developers and one local resident filed appeals.
On July 26 the Planning Commission approved plans for the 124-room Inn at the Mission San Juan Capistrano and the 102-room Hotel Capistrano by Kimpton. Those approvals drew cheers in the audience and were final unless called up for review by the City Council or appealed to the City Council.
On Aug. 2, Councilwoman Kerry Ferguson withdrew a request that she had made for the council to review one or both hotel plans to resolve any unanswered questions. She said she had spoken with both developers and was ready to move on with the hotels.
The deadline for filing an appeal was Wednesday. Three appeals were filed that afternoon.
The first was from Bill Griffith, developer of Inn at the Mission, asserting that the Hotel Capistrano plan does not comply with city codes and city policies designed to protect views of a historic building he owns, Egan House.
The second was by Mark Weintraub, a local resident. He contended that an environmental review of the Inn at the Mission — which is a redesign of a earlier-approved Plaza Banderas Hotel plan — did not address significant new impacts caused by substantial changes to the project.
David Wood, developer of Hotel Capistrano, filed the third appeal. He cited what he called unaddressed negative impacts of the Inn at the Mission on the Mission San Juan Capistrano, which is next door to the site and on a historic house adjacent to the site that locals call "the little yellow house."
A review of the appeals is scheduled tentatively for the Sept. 6 council meeting.
There had been speculation that Griffith might challenge the Hotel Capistrano project, as his attorney, K. Erik Friess, had delivered a July 26 letter to the Planning Commission outlining alleged violations of city codes and policies. Friess detailed the objections during a public hearing, and city staff responded point by point. Commissioners voted 5-0 to conditionally approve Hotel Capistrano, saying that they were glad the objections were raised and vetted.
Commissioners conditionally approved the Inn at the Mission on a 4-0 vote. No objections were raised by the developer of Hotel Capistrano, although several residents, including Weintraub, questioned view impacts they said the hotel's construction could have on the historic mission and on the historic yellow house.
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
