Church plan curtailed

The Newport Beach City Council decided early Friday to allow the St.

Andrew’s Presbyterian Church to add space, but it sliced the plans by

nearly a third.

The council voted, 5-2, to amend the city’s general plan and to

change the church property zoning to allow an expansion -- but by

only 15,000 square feet, not the additional 21,741 square feet the

church wanted for a youth and family center, a parking structure and

remodeling existing buildings. Councilmen Steve Rosansky and Don Webb

-- who represent the neighborhoods involved -- voted against the

expansion, saying they wanted to whittle it down even more.

The church will also be subject to a number of conditions,

including a limit on how many people can attend evening events and

how much weekday parking it will offer to Newport Harbor High School

students.

Later Friday, neither church officials nor neighbors who

vehemently fought the expansion were sure what their next steps will

be.

After cutting down an original plan to add nearly 36,000 square

feet to the 104,000-square-foot church, St. Andrew’s supporters

aren’t sure the amount of growth the council allowed them makes the

project worth doing. The council’s final trim reduced the project by

65%, church building committee chairman Ken Williams said.

“You know probably full well without even doing the cost estimate

that you’re not going to reduce the cost by 65%,” he said. “Even if

we can come up with a design, is it beneficial?”

The church’s elected elders will decide by mid-September whether

to move ahead with a smaller expansion project, Williams said

He said he’s not concerned about the requirement of 85 parking

spaces for Newport Harbor students or the evening occupancy limits,

which allow 1,100 fewer church visitors each week than the limits the

city planning commission approved.

He’s not even worried about the possibility of a lawsuit or

referendum of the council’s decision, which neighbors have

threatened.

Anyone wishing to challenge the environmental report on the

project must file a lawsuit within 30 days. Neighbors said they’re

not sure what they’ll do now.

“The same options are available today that were available before

the vote,” said Robert Coldren, a church neighbor and attorney. “Do

nothing is one option. Referendum is another option.”

Neighbor Jim Carmack thought the expansion the council granted was

too big, but he had another concern. Without a third party to make

sure the church is meeting the 82 conditions placed on it, neighbors

will have to become enforcers, he said.

“We’re doomed to the fate of being the nasty neighbors every time

we complain,” Carmack said.

The city does monitor the conditions it puts on building permits

and will do so for St. Andrew’s, city planning director Patty Temple

said. However, she added, “this group of conditions will put a

greater burden on staff.”

As a way to pacify neighbors, the council also got the church to

say it will never again expand on its St. Andrews Road property. Some

neighbors have said church officials promised in 1982 not to expand

again. The church denies making such a pledge.

But what Carmack noticed was that church officials on Friday

didn’t promise to restrict growth on other properties the church

owns.

“We can only assume that expansion is part of their future plan,”

Carmack said. “Let’s just say we think history will repeat itself,

regardless of the cap at that site.”

The church already owns a five-unit complex on 15th Street by the

Masonic lodge and would buy the lodge if it goes up for sale,

Williams said, but the zoning of those sites would probably need to

be changed to allow any other development.

“All we wanted to do was just make an agreement that we would not

try to ask for additional square footage on our existing site,” he

said.

A council decision doesn’t seem to have resolved the St. Andrew’s

expansion dilemma, but Williams is more worried right now about how

to heal the breach between the church and residents.

“We have to be concerned that we’ve got such a large number of

people ... that are upset with the church, and we will do everything

we can to reach out to them,” Williams said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].