CATHEDRAL DEMOLITION BARRED WITHOUT STUDY.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese must perform a full environmental impact review before it can tear down historic St. Vibiana's Cathedral, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien ruled Friday.

O'Brien's decision was hailed by the Los Angeles Conservancy, which went to court to secure the ruling and which hopes to preserve the 120-year-old church - one of the city's oldest buildings.

``This is actually protecting the environmental review process,'' said Linda Dishman, executive director of the conservancy, which has been fighting the demolition effort for several months. ``It says you do have to look at alternatives before you demolish a building, and that's been our point all along.''

Even so, the decision's impact was muted by Cardinal Roger Mahony's announcement Monday that he plans to build a new cathedral - Our Lady of the Angels - at another downtown site, which has yet to be determined.

``One has to ask, `For what?' '' the Rev. Gregory Coiro, the archdiocesan spokesman, said in response to O'Brien's ruling. ``We have no intention of using the building as a cathedral. Anything of historic significance has been dismantled and stored away.''

Mahony originally planned to build the new $45 million Cathedral Square at the site of St. Vibiana's, at Second and Main streets. But the archdiocese now is looking at other sites because of the legal hurdles thrown up by preservationists.

Coiro said the archdiocese still intends to level the building and sell the land and neighboring properties it had acquired to raise money for the Cathedral Square project.

But now the archdiocese must go through a lengthy, expensive environmental review process just to demolish the building, Coiro said.

Coiro said archdiocesan attorneys ``see some probable grounds for appeal,'' but that no decision has been made on whether to challenge it.

Conservancy attorney Jack Rubens said he did not see grounds for a successful appeal.

``The archdiocese has to follow the same rules as everyone else,'' he said.

Earlier this month, the City Council took the cathedral off its list of historic cultural monuments and ruled that demolishing the building would have no foreseeable effect on the environment. That ruling would have allowed demolition to proceed without an environmental review.

But O'Brien scolded the council for making up its mind long before it held a hearing on whether the review was necessary. Issuing the permit wasn't a ``ministerial'' action, as the city had said, and therefore fell under environmental law, he ruled.

``Indeed, there is substantial evidence showing that the demolition . . . may have a significant effect on the environment by virtue of having the universally proclaimed historical structure on the property demolished,'' O'Brien wrote.

O'Brien also ruled that just because the cathedral was no longer on the list of historic cultural monuments didn't mean it was no longer historic.

The ruling is part of the second of two lawsuits the conservancy filed to block the demolition. O'Brien earlier backed the conservancy on the first suit, over the city's ``emergency'' issuance of a demolition permit. That decision already is being appealed.

The second suit involved the city's attempt to avoid an environmental review, as required under the California Environmental Quality Act for historic buildings.

City Councilwoman Rita Walters, whose district includes St. Vibiana's, said she disagreed with the judge's decision.

``I'm very disappointed,'' Walters said. ``I think he's mistaken because it has already been de-listed. The cardinal has said he is going to tear it down. Besides satisfying the whim of the conservancy, I don't know what there is to be gained by going through this exercise (of a full environmental study).''

Despite her frustration, Walters noted that Mahony's decision to build the new cathedral elsewhere reduces the impact of the judge's ruling.

``The cardinal has already made a decision to move,'' she said.