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Borrego Springs Shopping Center & Villas Borrego
Apartments (1965)
One of the most significant commercial projects in the
community, the Borrego Springs Shopping Center and Villas
Borrego was the largest development at the time of the DiGiorgio
Corporation, which had extensive landholdings in the Borrego
Valley, much of it used to grow table grapes. The project
development was headed by George Kuhrts with underwriting
by Robert DiGiorgio and A.A. Burnand. The Borrego Sun
announced the more than $1 million dollar project in
1965 with a banner headline.
The project featured a shopping mall, bank, gas station
and 28 apartment (today condominium units) with two pools
on a 20 acre site between Palm Canyon and Country Club Drive.
For this project, Zerbe would collaborate with La Mesa
architects Raymond Lee Eggers and Joseph Pisciotti and Associates
of San Diego. 22
Ground was broken for the project in October, 1965. In December,
a ceremony was held where a time capsule was buried in the
center to be opened in the year 2000. Students from Borrego
Elementary and High Schools were invited to compete in an
essay contest on "What Borrego Will Be Like in the Year
2000', with the winners receiving a $100 savings bond and
their paper placed into the time capsule. 23
The essay of Levina Houck, a junior at Borrego Springs High
School won the contest, envisioning Borrego Springs in the
year 2000 as "having a monorail that crossing the mountains
to the coast; towering skyscrapers around Christmas Circle;
Clark Dry Lake dry no longer and the state park will be reduced
in size." Taking part in the sealing of the time capsule
were developers Robert DiGiorgio, A.A. Burnand, and W.A. Patterson,
who was President of de Anza Country Club and Chairman of
the Board of United Airlines. Also participating in the ceremony
were Mr. and Mrs. Kuhrts, Werner Lusardi of Vista, president
of P.H. Lusardi Co., the builder, and Richard M. Zerbe of
Julian, one of the architects. 24
Today the shopping center known as "The Mall",
and the Villas Borrego Condominiums, remain a significant
element of Borrego's main street. Ironically the shopping
center buildings face the less used Country Club Drive,
and turn their back on the busier Palm Canyon Drive. The
reason, confirmed by architect Lee Eggers, was that plans
called for Montezuma Grade, the new road that cut travel
time to Borrego, to end at Christmas Circle, using Country
Club Drive. The route for Montezuma Grade was changed, meeting
Palm Canyon Drive at Hoberg Road near the entrance to Anza
Borrego State Park. The Mall's relationship to Palm Canyon
Drive was left unchanged.
Balancing Development and Quality of Life
With the development of the Borrego Valley, A.A. Burnand
and partners in 1949 formed the Borrego Springs Community
Association and laid the foundation for deed restrictions
to protect the quality of life in the Valley. "In many
ways, the Borrego Springs Community Association was similar
to a modern homeowners' association, responsible for enforcement
of deed restrictions established by the original developers;
for example, a requirement that homebuilders could not remove
more than ten percent of the native growth around their
homes. In 1949, this was still a novel idea." 26
From 1962 to 1987 Dick Zerbe was the advising architect
to the Community Association Board of Directors - contracted
to review all plans for development in the Valley. It
was this position into which he threw his passions for
good desert design. While known for being fair, his tough
stance didn't, at times, win him many friends. His written
comments (which he did in red pencil) on the plans for
one home:
"The concept and construction details are evidently
thought to lower costs. I think this is a misconception
that reflects the designer's lack of understanding of
the many principals - not to mention economies, climate,
vagaries of materials, etc.
Designer and owner should talk to old time desert builders
(If there are any survivors). Also: One might make an engineer
out of an architect but it seems less likely that one might
make an architect out of an engineer - maybe there's a perception
that architecture is either more rewarding or easier (or
both) than engineering" 28
In a 1980 letter to the chairman, of the Architectural
Committee of the Association, Zerbe wrote:
"My objective is to use my knowledge of
Borrego to help all applicants produce the best possible
structure for the occupant and the community. Anything we
can do to accomplish this in such a way as to build good
will instead of resentment will further my objective"…
*I'm sure we might make more friends if the committee
operated as a rubber stamp and issued only compliments
or tactfully ignored poor design - but is the gain worth
the loss of a few who might due irreparable harm to the
community?
Yours truly,
s/s Dick
R.M. Zerbe, Architect
*What I'm saying is that if we are irresponsible, we
might win 'em all. If we're responsible, we win some and
we lose some but who needs the ones we lose? 29
In 1981, the County of San Diego initiated a General Plan
Update, which prompted the Community Association to begin
the process for a "Town Center" plan. Proposed
changes in zoning and uses that were in conflict with existing
community character were of special concern (there were
proposals to increase industrial development in the town
core where the 1947 deed restrictions placed on much of
other valley property were not in effect).
December 23, 1980
Borrego Springs Community Association
James Brainerd, President
Dear Dick,
You have asked that, to assist you in performing your
function as a land consultant to this Association, we
provide you with a written statement outlining our wishes
and attitudes in respect to the formulation of the Town
Center Plan which is now in progress. This is a joint
effort of the citizens committee known as the Borrego
Springs Community Land Use Study Group and staff of the
San Diego County Department of Planning and Land Use.
In my opinion, the views of the Directors of the Borrego
Springs Community Association include:
1. A desire to assist the Group in the formulation of
a plan for the orderly growth of the study area which
will not diminish the area's attractions that brought
the current population to the Borrego Valley,
2. A defensive posture toward efforts to alter or weaken
our Declaration of Protective Restrictions. We recognize
that the Restrictions are not perfect but it is the
firm conviction that they have served well since the
first of them was invoked in 1947. I believe that in
general they constitute a pioneer planning effort of
high quality and that of the development of covenant
area were completed in accord with them, we would have
in Borrego a resort residential community of excellence.
(I think it is very unfortunate that the covenant area
did not include at least all of the central portion
of the area). The Directors and officers of the association
are charged with the enforcement of these Restrictions
and did not have the authority to amend them. Amendment
can only be accomplished by our owner/members in accordance
with Article XIII.
3. A strong feeling of responsibility toward our member/owners
who have in good faith purchased properties within the
covenant area with the expectation that they could rely
upon the Protective restrictions.30
In 1987, with his resignation from the position of advising
architect, he warned that unchecked development would have
a devastating effect on the quality of life in Borrego -
an opinion that haunts the present and future Borrego community.
In the early 2000's the long chipping away at the Community
Association and its regulation of development was successful
when a landholder/developer successfully convinced property
owners in the covenant area to dissolve the Association,
and with it, the enforcement of the restrictions that remain
in each property owners deed. It is an event in Borrego
Springs history that deserves its own further examination.
Today the Borrego Springs
Sponsor Group advises the County of San Diego on development
issues, which is in the process of its 2020 Plan Update.
31
In addition to his work in Borrego Springs, Dick Zerbe
was a preservation pioneer, instrumental in creating the
guidelines that protect Julian's historic character. During
his career obtained his State Contractor's License, was
a member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Institute
of Architects, and the State Board of Architectural Examiners.
In 1997, the State retired his Architects License (C4004).
Richard Monroe Zerbe died in 1999. His work remains a symbol
of the period when Borrego boomed - a legacy that lives
today.
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