Mayor's Walk Tours Our Lady of Fatima Construction

Our Lady of Fatima's $21-million face-lift was the focus of this month's Mayor's Walk, held Saturday morning in San Clemente.

The 5-acre Catholic parish is in the midst of a four-phase overhaul to replace its church hall, school and gymnasium--and expand the sanctuary's seating from 665 to 1,200.

"The parish and fellowship has been growing," Pastor Jack Sewell said. "It's an opportunity to help the community's spiritual growth."

Each month, Mayor Lori Donchak organizes a public tour of a local landmark. "This year, my focus has been to keep the local economy vital," Donchak said. "When this came to my attention, I thought this would be an iconic project for San Clemente."

Tour tidbits:

• During construction, fossilized Baleen whale bones were discovered, estimated to be 3 million to 5 million years old.

• The administration building will be topped with a flat "planted roof." Succulents and other native plants will grow on the rooftop

• The centerpiece in this phase of construction is a new 10,000-square-foot hall and kitchen. Also on the drawing board: a larger patio, new access roads and climate-controlled school classrooms.

The project was designed by Domusstudio and is being built by Capistrano Beach-based Bluefin Construction, which specializes in church construction.

Our Lady of Fatima is one of just three major construction projects underway in San Clemente. Construction is scheduled to finish around mid-November.

The project also includes new underground utilities and a water runoff system through the granite bedrock.

Read the full article at: https://patch.com/california/sanclemente/mayors-walk-tours-our-lady-of-fatima-construction