Museum plans unopposed at hearing

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer | Monday, July 25, 2005 10:12 PM PDT ∞

ENCINITAS ---- San Dieguito Heritage Museum officials on Monday inched closer to opening facilities on Quail Gardens Drive as plans to place portable buildings on a leased site cleared a city hearing with no opposition.

No action was taken at the administrative hearing, which was open to the public.

Eager to establish a presence on the leased site, museum officials hope to open displays in temporary buildings as they raise funds to build permanent ones.

City planner Bill Weedman told five museum members the planning department would issue a decision shortly and hinted that the decision would be favorable.

"Things may change," Weedman said, "but that's highly unlikely."

No museum members or other speakers made comments during the brief hearing.

Once the planning department issues its decision, a 15-day appeal period begins. Anyone opposed to the decision can pay $250 to appeal it to the City Council.

After that, the state Coastal Commission will entertain appeals ---- free of charge ---- during a 10-day period.

"That's a lot of appeal periods," museum president Kate DuVivier said.

In 2003, the museum secured a 55-year lease for the city-owned property for $1 a year.

To move onto the property, museum officials have brought forward a plan to place two temporary buildings, connected by a deck, on the site.

Plans show the structures would be fitted with window boxes and shutters.

"We're just trying to get the buildings not to look like construction trailers," architect Jerry Stephen said.

The buildings would offer just under 1,100 square feet of space, about as much as the museum's existing location in an old gas station on Vulcan Avenue.

The new spot, however, would offer outdoor space for displays and classroom visits and would provide a safer, more peaceful setting than the busy intersection beneath City Hall.

The temporary buildings will provide a home for the museum as its members raise funds to advance a master plan with permanent buildings that would replace the temporary ones.

The master plan includes two full red barns flanking an entrance. The full-size barns would be used for exhibition, meeting and office space.

Inside the museum compound, visitors would wander through installations reflecting periods of Encinitas' history, beginning with a Native American exhibit.

A rancho exhibit would depict the early 1800s, when California belonged to Mexico and most of present-day Encinitas was partitioned into two, vast ranchos.

The centerpiece of the homestead exhibit already is on the property. The 113-year-old Teten House is fenced and boarded shut and sits atop blocks in a corner of the property. The historic home of an Olivenhain turkey farmer is to be restored. So is the accompanying "granny house," a weather-beaten, pitch-roofed building.

Just as big as the granny house is an antique bean thresher. Modern in its day, when bean fields were common in Encinitas, the behemoth traveled from farm to farm.

Still other installations will recognize Encinitas' heritage as a flower center and depict the downtown district in the early 1900s.

The museum was formed in 1988 and because space is lacking only a fraction of its collection is on display.

"We're just putting one foot in front of the other and know we're making progress," DuVivier said.

The museum has about 200 members, 25 docents and numerous volunteers. For more information, call the museum at (760) 632-9711.

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.

you need a nut graph much higher explaining what the heck these plans are all about. ENCINITAS ---- San Dieguito Heritage Museum officials on Monday inched closer to opening facilities on Quail Gardens Drive as plans to place portable buildings on a leased site cleared a city hearing with no opposition.

No action was taken at the administrative hearing, which was open to the public.

City planner Bill Weedman told five museum members the planning department would issue a decision shortly and hinted that the decision would be favorable.

"Things may change," Weedman said, "but that's highly unlikely."

No museum members or other speakers made comments during the brief hearing.

Once the planning department issues its decision, a 15-day appeal period begins. Anyone opposed to the decision can pay $250 to appeal it to the City Council.

After that, the state Coastal Commission will entertain appeals ---- free of charge ---- during a 10-day period.

"That's a lot of appeal periods," museum president Kate DuVivier said.

In 2003, the museum secured a 55-year lease for the city-owned property for $1 a year. you need transition here.

After the hearing, DuVivier said the museum's members are eager to establish a presence on Quail Gardens Drive. That presence would begin by placing two temporary buildings, connected by a deck, on the site.

Plans show the structures would be fitted with window boxes and shutters.

"We're just trying to get the buildings not to look like construction trailers," architect Jerry Stephen said.

The buildings would offer just under 1,100 square feet of space, about as much as the museum's existing location in an old gas station on Vulcan Avenue.

The new spot, however, would offer outdoor space for displays and classroom visits and would provide a safer, more peaceful setting than the busy intersection beneath City Hall.

The temporary buildings will provide a home for the museum as its members raise funds to advance a master plan with permanent buildings that would replace the temporary ones.

The master plan includes two full red barns flanking an entrance. The full-size barns would be used for exhibition, meeting and office space.

Inside the museum compound, visitors would wander through installations reflecting periods of Encinitas' history, beginning with a Native American exhibit.

A rancho exhibit would depict the early 1800s, when California belonged to Mexico and most of present-day Encinitas was partitioned into two, vast ranchos.

The centerpiece of the homestead exhibit already is on the property. The 113-year-old Teten House is fenced and boarded shut and sits atop blocks in a corner of the property. The historic home of an Olivenhain turkey farmer is to be restored. So is the accompanying "granny house," a weather-beaten, pitch-roofed building.

Just as big as the granny house is an antique bean thresher. Modern in its day, when bean fields were common in Encinitas, the behemoth traveled from farm to farm.

Still other installations will recognize Encinitas' heritage as a flower center and depict the downtown district in the early 1900s.

The museum was formed in 1988 and because space is lacking only a fraction of its collection is on display.

"We're just putting one foot in front of the other and know we're making progress," DuVivier said.

The museum has about 200 members, 25 docents and numerous volunteers. For more information, call the museum at (760) 632-9711.

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.

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