Planned relocation would create expanded museum space
Public comment is sought on a proposal to move Mission San Juan
Bautista’s gift shop to a new building that will be more
visitor-friendly and improve the historical context of a trip to
the historic site.
The City of San Juan Bautista’s Historical Resources Board and
Planning Commission will hold a hearing Feb. 2 to consider the
project’s environmental impact.
Planned relocation would create expanded museum space
Public comment is sought on a proposal to move Mission San Juan Bautista’s gift shop to a new building that will be more visitor-friendly and improve the historical context of a trip to the historic site.
The City of San Juan Bautista’s Historical Resources Board and Planning Commission will hold a hearing Feb. 2 to consider the project’s environmental impact.
The project calls for the construction of a one-story, 2,309-square-foot building adjacent to and immediately south of the Maryknoll Rectory, which was built in 1932. It will include an 1,802-square-foot gift shop and a public restroom. The goal is to relocate the existing gift shop from the Mission’s monastery building so that space can be converted to museum use.
“We can take the old gift shop out and use that space for more appropriate museum displays,” said Fr. Edward Fitz-Henry, pastor of Mission San Juan Bautista. “We have a lot of beautiful paintings and photographs that no one sees because we don’t have room for them. That will change with the new museum space. We’d also like to invite local artists to display their art there on a rotational basis. It’ll add to the whole experience.”
The project is also expected to benefit local parishioners, who now have to walk more than 150 yards to the nearest restrooms.
“One of the primary things is it’ll bring the bathrooms closer to the church,” Fr. Fitz-Henry said. “I’ve heard that if you’re the parent of a little child, you miss half the Mass (when having to walk to the current restroom site), so it’s a real struggle for some people.”
The current gift shop site, according to a city report, “detracts from the character of the building as an historical resource and limits the range of educational and other material that may be available for purchase.”
With about 75,000 visitors per year, including an estimated 46,000 fourth-graders who visit the grounds during their study of California history, the planned relocation of the gift shop would make it both the entrance and the exit for tours of the Mission grounds. Under the current configuration, visitors generally begin their tours at the monastery building, walk through the church and visit the courtyard and chapel.
A report by Ruben Mendoza, an archeology professor at California State University, Monterey Bay and a frequent researcher at the Mission, says the planned gift shop structure will complement the historic feel of the area by using beams, salvaged roof tile, cement plaster walls and redwood gates and doors.
He also said that the foundation of the building will be designed to “float above subsurface resources” so that the Mission grounds are not extensively disturbed by grading. Utilities, sewer and water lines will also be aligned to avoid archeological resources at the site.
“Much of the historical and archeological resource that lies within the proposed project area does so at a relatively shallow depth, and therefore, the project efforts will require due consideration of the archaeological and historical sensitivity of the area…” Mendoza said in his report.
A certified archeologist will be on hand to monitor site preparation and excavation.
The city’s report anticipates that construction on the gift shop and restroom facility will begin this spring and last approximately four months.
While the project would remove three olive trees from the inner courtyard near the rectory, Mendoza’s report said the project will enclose the quadrangle “in a manner anticipated by the original designers of the site,” thus enhancing its visual quality. Landscaping, including native plants, will be added to the new gift shop site after construction.
A copy of the project application and initial environmental study are available at City Hall, 311 Second St. in San Juan Bautista or by mail at P.O. Box 1420, San Juan Bautista, CA, 95045. For more information, call City Hall at 623-4661 or City Planner Matthew Sundt at 831-372-1314.
