Threat of lawsuit surrounds property project

A lawsuit may jeopardize the efforts of the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society to split the lot on which their museum property sits, according to the organization’s attorney, John Crawford.

However, at present it is a “threat,” Crawford said. “It has not been filed to my knowledge.”

In 2003, the organization acquired the property situated at 123 W. Alvarado extending to Pico Avenue along with a 4,000 square foot building into which the museum moved its collections and offices that were formally located in the Fallbrook Historical Society’s facility on Rockycrest Rd.

Since the move, the activities of the museum and its contributions to the community have grown extensively. It’s the first exclusive location for the society that was founded in 1957.

In its April newsletter, the society reports that after employing an architect to draw plans for an atrium to the museum, the board of the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society asked members Mick Palculich and David LaMarr to meet with Fallbrook Community Development Corporation (FCDC) representatives Vince Ross and Mike Weber to discuss changes to the property. The FCDC has a legal agreement with the Society to buy half of the property.

The Fallbrook Community Development Corporation, founded by Mike Weber, Vince Ross and Don McDougal is a nonprofit organization that can create projects that can’t be done by a “for profit” group, says Weber.

A Fallbrook Visitors Center is the first project the FCDC wishes to complete and it is to be located on the property adjacent to the Gem & Mineral Society building. The Visitors Center project is currently ‘in the works’ and Weber says he hopes it will be finished by the end of the year.

Other projects the FCDC hopes to complete include the construction of a town center and central parking on the property between The Art Center and the Fallbrook Public Library.

Weber says he is unaware of any lawsuit, but heard there was dissension among the society members. The FCDC has had the agreement with the Gem & Mineral Society for two years to purchase and develop the vacant property adjacent to their building.

Now, according to Crawford, “certain members” do not want to go forward with the agreement.