The Ecology Center, in the historic Congdon House on Alipaz, announced it will open its doors to the public for regular tours and visits next month.
Here's the official announcement: "The Ecology Center is opening its doors to the public starting February 6th! Please bring your family, friends and neighbors as we welcome company, Saturday and Sunday - 11am - 4pm. In addition to our opening, we have many new programs to announce. Please explore our Backyard Skills workshop series, our Eco-Design Studio, and more!!"
The center, which focuses on teaching folks how to live with a smaller footprint on the Earth, is a non-profit that opened in the 130-year house in 2008. The building is owned by the city and adjacent to South Coast Farms.
Here's the center's Web site, which discusses upcoming programs.
Contrast that use, just for fun, with the city's proposal to start holding events -- including weddings -- at the city-owned Swanner House at the north end of town, on Camino Capistrano.
The Swanner House, built in 1923, was purchased by the city as part of the northwest open space picked up after the 1990 bond approval. It's the tan house with the wooden water tower between the home and the garage, all in front of old orange groves. The Swanner House is near what will be an open space park.
Right now, the city pays about $500 a month to maintain the home -- which is on the National Register of Historic Places -- and a family living there pays $2,300 a month. Staff, working at the behest of the council, looked at possible uses for the house and decided a wedding center/meeting facility would be best.
Staff could manage the facility, the report says, and proposes fees of $1,000 up to $ and estimates the overall income would be about $63,000 a year. Additionally, it would cost about $200,000 to get the Swanner House ready, the report says. That, it adds, could be covered by a grant, though.
The council endorsed more study on the plan by a 5-0 vote, although Councilman Sam Allevato noted the city might have to bring on staff to work as a wedding coordinator, and Councilmembers Mark Nielsen and Laura Freese suggested staff's estimate of the annual income might be ... optimistic.
The plan but it didn't go over well with everyone in attendance at Thursday's special (delayed by the rain storm impacts on City Hall) City Council meeting, though: residents Tony Brown and Clint Worthington said it was wrong for the city -- which doesn't pay property taxes or have other expenses borne by private parties -- to go into business competing at against the private sector.
That was supported by a letter from John Q. Humphreys, who owns Ramos House Cafe and recently opened The Villa on Camino Capistrano to host weddings. It took him seven years, he said, to get through the process to open The Villa. He was disgusted, he said, and nearly bankrupt by the process. He considered selling his businesses and leaving Capistrano, but loves the valley too much, he said.
"Now, I have heard that apparently the city wants to open a wedding facility just one mile up the road," Humphreys wrote. "Maybe it's just the nose of a chef, but something smells fishy."
Here's the staff report: Download CC Swanner House Use
Here's Humphreys' letter: Download CC Swanner House Letter
And lest anyone think this is a new issue for the city, here's a link to a Los Angeles Times' article, when the council delayed making a decision on what to do with Swanner. At that point, the local Audubon Society wanted to use Swanner as a local birdwatching headquarters, slide shows and tours of the historic house. That was in 1996 ...
http://articles.latimes.com/1996-11-08/local/me-62532_1_city-council
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