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Redevelopment Heir suit should slow NTC redevelopment

A lawsuit filed by an heir to an original owner of land on the former Naval Training Center is not expected to delay development of the former base.

Rick Duvernay, a San Diego deputy city attorney, said the lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court on Feb. 8 by Brian K. Fletcher, claiming rights to the property, has very little merit and is not expected to affect the project.

“We are prepared to go to court to get (the lawsuit) summarily dismissed,” Duvernay said.

The only way the project could be halted, according to Duvernay, is if the plaintiff got a motion to have the court issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary and permanent injunction on the property. Neither has been done, but all are included in the lawsuit.

Fletcher said he did not file the suit for financial gain, but to “honor the community spirit of our great-grandfather, Col. Ed Fletcher, and those sailors who served their country.”

What Fletcher does want is a judgment saying he partially owns the property, has the right to an accounting and receipt of past and future rents collected by the city, the right to seek damages for demolition of buildings, and a restraining order against the city for trespassing.

Duvernay said Fletcher, or any member of the other families that purchased the land in 1921, have no claim to the property.

According to the lawsuit, six well-known San Diego families conveyed 135 acres of the 430-acre site in Point Loma to the federal government to be used “exclusively” as a training center by the Navy. The suit further alleges the city’s development plan for the former base is “an abandonment of the prescribed usage, giving rise to the ownership going back to the families.”

The Navy used the site as a training facility until it was closed in 1997 , 75 years later.

According to Duvernay, the federal government abided by the terms of the deed when the site was operated by the Navy.

Nothing in the deal, Duvernay said, required that property ownership revert back to the original owners if the Navy vacated the site.

The city awarded the development contract to National City-based Corky McMillin Cos. last year. The $500 million redevelopment project calls for construction of 350 homes, 380,000 square feet of office space, two hotels, 625,000 square feet of mixed-used facilities, and 40 acres of open space.

Fletcher, who lives in Oceanside, said he wasn’t aware of the plans until recently. According to published reports, Fletcher said he didn’t know his family members were original deed holders until recently contacted.

“He was out of town and just heard about what they were doing to the property,” said Kent Wilson, Fletcher’s attorney.

McMillin is not named in the suit and is on track to begin demolition work this month.

“We will keep moving forward until we’re told that we can’t,” said Megan Conley, McMillin spokeswoman.

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