SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Historic Home to Be Cut Up and Stored
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Expressing concern over the high cost of relocating a historic home threatened by development, the City Council voted this week to have the house cut in half and stored until its fate is decided.
The council voted 4 to 1 against a proposal by City Manager Stephen B. Julian that the rickety, wooden house built in 1912 be relocated half a mile away in C. Russell Cook Park.
Some council members were concerned about the estimated $170,000 cost to restore the home. They also opposed the cost of providing state-required flood-protection standards so that it could be located in the park.
The home at the corner of Ortega Highway and Avenida Siega is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, state officials have said. In a study on widening Ortega Highway and removing a blind curve in front of the home, state officials determined that the house was an obstacle.
A developer has purchased the 2.5-acre home site and in June won approval from the council to build seven houses there.
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