Jan. 16–A Superior Court judge appears ready to rule on a lawsuit that argues San Juan Capistrano erred in approving plans for a 102-room hotel in the city's downtown historic district.

Judge Kim Dunning heard testimony Friday, Jan. 12, in Santa Ana and indicated she will make a decision on the case, but she didn't say when.

Local businessman Bill Griffith's attorney argued plans the city approved in 2016 for the Hotel Capistrano by Kimpton violate the Historic Town Center Master Plan the City Council adopted in 2012 to guide downtown development.

The hotel site at 31878 Camino Capistrano borders Forster Street. The master plan called for Forster to be extended from Camino Capistrano through the hotel property to Del Obispo Street, attorney Erik Friess said, but the council-approved hotel plan does not extend the street.

The hotel site also is adjacent to the Egan House, a historic landmark owned by Griffith. Friess said the town center plan included a requirement for anything built next to the Egan House to be no higher than the structure.

"It's all about keeping the height down in relation to the historic buildings," Friess said. The hotel also had to be placed away from Egan House at a distance equal to the historic building's height, the attorney argued.

The city's attorneys maintained the hotel plan complies with setback requirements, and they disputed Friess' contention there is an absolute 35-foot height limit for the hotel. They said the code allows for architectural features, such as the Spanish towers proposed for the Hotel Capistrano, to go higher than 35 feet.

The attorneys said the master plan's provision for a Forster Street extension hinged on the landowner offering land for the project, or agreeing to condemnation. A prior developer did that in 2014 for a hotel plan that would have included 136 rooms plus 30 attached townhomes. That plan needed vehicular access for the townhomes, the attorneys said.

The 2014 plan got tied up in lawsuits and was never built. Today's Hotel Capistrano design has no townhomes, meaning no need for a street extension, the attorneys argued. They said the Hotel Capistrano will provide for enhanced pedestrian access through the historic area, a quality promoted by the master plan.

Friess suggested if the city wanted to eliminate the street extension, the hotel's environmental documentation should have analyzed the impacts. City attorneys said an analysis determined the new hotel project, minus the townhomes or street extension of the prior plan, would generate no new significant impacts.

The Jan. 12 court deliberations came as Griffith is trying to build a larger, 124-room Plaza Banderas, next door to the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano.

He purchased the hotel site at 26891 Ortega Highway in 2015 and is modifying an architectural design the city approved in 2011. It is not subject to the Historic Town Center Master Plan's height or setback provisions because it pre-dates the 2012 guidelines.

At a meeting Jan. 11, the city's Design Review Committee ruled that in concept, Griffith's new design for the Plaza Banderas is consistent with the 2011 design, although there were design details the panel wanted the developer to refine. The consistency finding could allow Griffith to begin performing foundation work on the site.

The new design reallocates spaces in the three buildings and how they are to be used, reducing the size of two of the buildings so the main hotel building can be bigger.

Chuck Krolikowski, an attorney for a local group who has appeared repeatedly at meetings to challenge Griffith's hotel plans, argued to the Design Review Committee this is a different project than the one approved in 2011 and could be challenged if allowed to move forward. He said the changes should be referred to the Planning Commission for public hearings on the design, changes in use and view impacts.

Griffith's team said the changes are consistent with the original project's environmental analysis and development agreement.