May 23–Developers of Plaza Banderas, a planned 124-room hotel next to historic Mission San Juan Capistrano, will be given another year to get the slowed project off the ground.

The City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday, May 16 to grant South Coast Investors II, a partnership headed by local businessman Bill Griffith, a one-year extension on a development agreement that dates back to 2011 when the project was approved under prior ownership.

Griffith purchased the approved 3-star hotel project in 2015 and attempted to redesign it in 2016 into a 4-star hotel named Inn at the Mission. He withdrew the redesign in September when critics challenged its visual impacts on the neighboring mission and on a landmark house.

The withdrawal left Griffith able to fall back on a fully entitled Plaza Banderas hotel project, which his son Jake said is now being refined to offer a 4-star guest experience within the footprint of the original Plaza Banderas project

"We remain enthusiastic about delivering a 4-star luxury boutique hotel and hope you will grant us more time to continue working out the kinks involved from transitioning from the Inn at the Mission project back to Plaza Banderas," Jake Griffith told the council.

Several speakers at the council meeting asked the council to either reject the extension or postpone acting on it. They pointed out that Bill Griffith is suing the city to try to overturn the city's 2016 approval of Hotel Capistrano by Kimpton, a 102-room 4-star hotel located next to a historic downtown building owned by Griffith.

The lawsuit asserts that Hotel Capistrano's design violates the city's 2012 Historic Town Center Master Plan and view protections for Egan House, a landmark owned by Griffith. The city asserts that Hotel Capistrano's approval was proper. A trial was scheduled for May 22 but has been rescheduled for Aug. 11 in Orange County Superior Court.

"They've been very busy suing the city, they've been very busy suing us and they've been very busy throwing logs in the road," said Steve Oedekerk, owner of the Kimpton Hotel Capistrano site, which he had expected to have under construction shortly after winning city approval. Oedekerk said Griffith's hotel is bigger and taller than the one Griffith is suing the city over.

"This is directly across from the mission — our most treasured historic structure," said Councilman Sergio Farias, who voted against granting the extension. "If this was in front of me and I was on the council in 2010, I wouldn't approve this hotel. It's just too big and too close to our mission."

Dan Friess, representing South Coast Investors, said his team has been fast at work to develop new construction plans for Plaza Banderas and expects to start the building permit process this summer.

He said the development agreement clearly allows for extensions and he was bothered by fellow local businessmen "urging the council to literally violate our civil rights, eliminate our access to due process and somehow punish or retaliate against us for having a grievance on a separate and unrelated matter."

Farias suggested that delaying a vote on the extension could give the city leverage to try to make sure both hotels move forward. Councilman Derek Reeve also voted against the extension.

Mayor Kerry Ferguson and council members Pam Patterson and Brian Maryott supported the extension. "It's what we would do for any other developer," Maryott said.

"Why would people continue to invest if that's how they are going to be treated?" Ferguson said. "These other issues are going to be worked out, probably sooner rather than later, but they are other issues. And this is one step in a long process already."