Station’s neighbors complain about noise

Alicia Robinson

Neighbors of Trinity Broadcasting Network are once again complaining

that the religious center is praising the Lord a little too loudly,

and on Tuesday the Costa Mesa City Council just might listen.

Formally named the Trinity Christian Center but commonly known as

TBN, the organization operates from a large complex on Bear Street

abutting the San Diego (405) Freeway.

The center operates under a permit that prohibits activities after

10 p.m. and restricts the hours for other operations.

Since moving broadcasting and other operations to Costa Mesa in

1996, TBN has battled with a handful of neighbors in an adjacent

housing development, who complained about lights and noise from the

center’s activities.

In April 2003, the city refused TBN a permit for outdoor

broadcasting.

Neighbor Stacy Schofro, whose backyard is next to TBN, recently

complained about noise from a hydraulic lift that TBN workers use to

put up and repair outdoor lights.

She and other neighbors have filed about 60 or 70 complaints with

the city’s code enforcement department since early 2003, Schofro

said. Noise comes over her back wall and into her bedroom windows

from buses unloading passengers as well as operations of the lift,

she said.

“They grind up and down. It’s like listening to a tractor,” she

said.

City code officials wrote the center two citations for using the

lift after permitted hours on Dec. 22, according to a city staff

report .

Officials at TBN could not be reached for comment Friday.

It’s not just Schofro who’s complaining, said Councilwoman Linda

Dixon, who wants the Planning Commission to reconsider TBN’s permit.

“I’ve heard major concerns from other people,” she said.

“Sometimes the planning process needs to be amended and fixed if it’s

not working properly.”