![\"The](\"https:\/\/missionvalleynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Time-Share-Entrance-FRONT-COVER-copywebtop.png\")
<\/a>The project, commonly called the Legacy Center, cleared its first hurdle on Feb. 1 when the planning group\u2019s Design Advisory Board (DAB) voted 6-0 to recommend approval of the architectural design for the eight buildings in the complex totaling 315,000 square feet. The approval came despite remarks from DAB members who called the design \u201crepetitive and boring\u201d and \u201clooking like a low-budget hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the DAB vote bounced the project up to the full planning group for review.<\/p>\n
The Legacy Center would feature a five-story timeshare building, an office and security building, a training center, a Welcoming Center, plus tourist-style attractions such as catacombs, an Old World bazaar, an amphitheater, and a History Dome theater and artifact museum.<\/p>\n
Mission Valley News has extensively covered this project since December and attended every public meeting involving the Legacy Center. It should be noted that two members of the planning group \u2014 Jim Penner and Steve Abbo \u2014 have conflicts of interest and must recuse themselves from any votes concerning the project. Abbo was dismissed from the meeting, which was held at the Mission Valley Library, while the project was being discussed. Abbo is one of the owners of a liquor and convenience store that will be demolished if the Legacy Center is built. Penner was allowed to answer questions about the Legacy Center, because he is executive director of the Legacy Center Foundation at Morris Cerullo World Evangelism.<\/p>\n
The Legacy Center has come under scrutiny for various reasons and raised a number of questions, some asked publicly and some not.<\/p>\n
* What would happen if Morris Cerullo, who is 84 and was recently hospitalized, died suddenly? Would the multimillion-dollar project get tied up in probate court for years? Who would inherit Cerullo\u2019s ministry and TV empire, and would they have enough money to complete the project?<\/p>\n
* Is the project fully funded? Or does the ministry have to raise more money?<\/p>\n
* Why is Mark Harrah, the original architect who is no longer involved in the project, still speaking for Cerullo? How can a planning group make a monumental decision \u2014 about such a massive project that will impact Mission Valley for many years to come \u2014 when it has not even questioned the new architect, Carrier Johnson?<\/p>\n
* Is this really a tourism attraction, as Penner keeps telling the planning group? Or is it actually a training ground to \u201ctrain an army for God who will then be able to train others,\u201d as Cerullo\u2019s website proclaims? Penner shies away from talking about the conflicting information, focusing only on the tourism angle.<\/p>\n
* Planning board member Marco Sessa asked Harrah if the EIR contained any negative public comments. Harrah started evading the question, shaking his head to suggest that there were none or that they had been sufficiently addressed by his group. Sessa interrupted him, saying it was a \u201cyes or no question.\u201d After some audience members raised their voices, Harrah finally answered yes. A representative from the UCSD Health Services spoke up, saying UCSD had commented on the EIR, expressing concerns about the traffic impact on Bachman Place, a two-lane road off Hotel Circle North that leads up the canyon to the Hospital District, Hillcrest and Mission Hills. He said UCSD was also worried about delays for emergency vehicles that sometimes use Bachman Place to get to the Hospital District when the freeways or surface roads are slow-moving due to traffic or accidents. UCSD Medical Center employs hundreds of people, and is a teaching hospital for medical students, and the parking spots along the entire length of Bachman Place are typically full.<\/p>\n
* Harrah said the EIR would show that the Legacy Center would have less of a traffic impact than what\u2019s there now: the 202-room Mission Valley Resort Hotel, a liquor store (owned by Abbo), several restaurants and shops, and a shuttered fitness center. The audience grumbled in disbelief. Harrah said the Mission Valley Resort Hotel has about 40 percent occupancy rate; but later, Penner contradicted him by saying it has a 75 percent occupancy rate. But audience members noted that the Legacy Center would have underground parking as well as a five-story parking garage, offering a combined total of 878 parking spots.<\/p>\n
* Legacy Village would contain 127 timeshare units, in a five-story structure totaling 136,000 square feet, which would be located on the far southeast portion of the property where the vacated Senior Frog\u2019s fitness complex is. Harrah said they expected people would check in for five or six-day visits. So why is there a need for a 500-seat theater and a 300-seat amphitheater? Even with two people occupying each unit, the demand would appear to be less. Or are they expecting other visitors to pack other nearby hotels?<\/p>\n
* Harrah insisted the Legacy Center would be \u201copen 24\/7, 365 days a year to the public.\u201d But do San Diegans, a diverse population of many ethnicities and faiths, want to visit a place built by a controversial personality as Morris Cerullo, who proclaims himself a faith healer, miracle worker and prophet? Would a \u201cworld class health spa\u201d and a \u201cworld class restaurant\u201d attract people who do not agree with Cerullo\u2019s strict religious beliefs?<\/p>\n
* Why does the planning group chair, Dottie Surdi, feel compelled to remind the audience about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA)? The act protects the free exercise of religion. Has the planning board been warned by the Cerullo ministry? But is the Legacy Center about religion? Doesn\u2019t Penner keep saying this is a tourism attraction? If so, does the RFRA really apply in this case?<\/p>\n
* Harrah said most of the eight buildings would be taxable. Religious exemptions would include the three-story, 23,000-square-foot Executive Offices building that would house the ministry and security team.<\/p>\n
To review 10 documents related to the EIR, visit bit.ly\/1XQvuJo<\/a>. To learn more about the ministry, visit bit.ly\/1XXcrI2<\/a>. To read more about Cerullo\u2019s vision for the Legacy Center, visit bit.ly\/1R5W8tp<\/a> y bit.ly\/1IQu5Go<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Ken Williams es editor de Uptown News y Mission Valley News y puede ser contactado en <\/i>ken@sdcnn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a> o al 619-961-1952. S\u00edguelo en Twitter en <\/i>KenSanDiego<\/i><\/span><\/a>, cuenta de Instagram en <\/i>KenSD<\/i><\/span><\/a> o Facebook en <\/i>KenWilliamsSanDiego<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Ken Williams | Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":846,"featured_media":233355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11557","_seopress_titles_title":"Questions loom over Morris Cerullo project","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11557,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-valley-news","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
International Center at 875 Hotel Circle South, just off eastbound
Interstate 8. At the far left is a five-story parking garage, followed by a
building containing the Training Center. Top right is the Welcome Center,
the underground catacombs (colored red), which leads to the History
Dome. The time-share building is shown at the bottom right of the
drawing. The ministry\u2019s offices and security team would be housed in the
building at the far right. (From city documents) [Click to enlarge.]<\/figcaption><\/figure>According to the planning group, \u201cThe proposed mixed-use project requires a Process Five Community Plan Amendment, Atlas Specific Plan Amendment, Rezone, Site Development Permit, Planned Development Permit, Conditional Use Permit and Vesting Tentative Map to construct a mixed-use development with religious, non-denominational, faith-based entertainment center, museum, timeshare, administrative, recreational and commercial uses.\u201d<\/p>\n