Residents say church plan still too large

Deirdre Newman

Despite a concession by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church to reduce

the size of its planned expansion by about 8,800 square feet,

opponents in the neighborhood are not appeased.

And planning commissioners would like to see the size reduced

further.

The church unveiled its plans to reduce its proposed growth from

35,948 square feet to 27,168 square feet at the Planning Commission

meeting Thursday night. The main reason for the expansion is to

provide a youth and family center, church officials said.

Concerned residents packed the meeting chambers and spilled out

into the lobby. Size of the expansion was the main area of contention

between the church and some residents of the Cliff Haven and Newport

Heights neighborhoods, who are working out a compromise with the

church.

After hearing spirited arguments from both sides, some of the

commissioners suggested the church downsize its plans further to

18,000 to 22,000 square feet. Echoing some community members,

commissioners also asked the church to conduct a needs assessment to

justify the request for so much more space that it requires a general

plan amendment. And they urged church officials to do whatever they

can to make the parking and traffic situations, which neighbors

describe as already unbearable, better than they are now as part of

their expansion.

With people so polarized on the issue, evidenced by vehement

arguments from both sides followed by applause Thursday, the

commission’s ultimate decision will not be an easy one, commission

chairman Larry Tucker said.

“What we do is weigh equities,” Tucker said. “As we’ve seen

tonight, there’s not a homogenized opinion to how this should go.

There is a community-wide benefit [from the expansion], but I’m more

concerned about what’s going on in the immediate neighborhood.”

In addition to giving the church guidance, the Planning Commission

set the next consideration of this issue for Sept. 23. The church

will be ready by then, St. Andrew’s attorney Gary McKitterick said.

“The commission was very thorough in their concerns, looking at:

‘Will the project make the community a better place at the end?’”

McKitterick said. “We’re committed to that goal.”

One of three neighborhood leaders who spoke in opposition, Bill

Dunlap, said opponents don’t see the need to budge from their

compromise of 5,000 additional square feet for the church to expand.

“I really think a youth program can be dealt with in the space

they have now or the 5,000 square feet we’ve allowed by just

utilizing good space management,” he said.

The church has been in the neighborhood since 1947 and has been

meeting with neighbors about its expansion plans for the last two

years. In May, the Planning Commission encouraged both sides to work

more closely to try to attain agreement on the controversial issues

of the expansion.

While size remains the crux of the controversy, the church has

come up with some measures to alleviate adverse affects on the

neighborhood. Church officials have asked the city engineer for

permission to close the Clay Street entrance of the church to all but

emergency traffic to minimize traffic on Cliff Haven streets from

entering or leaving the church at that location. They also offered to

create a parking management program to help reduce traffic and

parking congestion during worship services.

But some neighbors said the traffic and parking situation has

gotten so bad now that they think the church should act in a more

neighborly fashion with its expansion.

Others suggested the church move out of the residential area, so

it can expand as much as it wants, if it has outgrown its capacity as

a neighborhood church.

But expansion proponents equated the church’s need to grow with

home remodels prevalent in the neighborhood and said the church’s

expansion reflects changing times and culture.

After listening to the emotional pros and cons of the proposed

expansion, Commissioner Barry Eaton summed up what he wants to see

happen now.

“Is there a way to accommodate the basics, not the extras of what

St. Andrew’s wants, and put enough restrictions [on it] so the net

result could be a little more beneficial than what’s there now?” he

asked.

That’s a question church officials will be studiously examining in

the next month, St. Andrew’s spokeswoman Jill Kanzler said.

“We are looking at our needs assessment, and we’re clearly

defining our needs and trying to see if we can put the project

together within the guidance of the commission,” Kanzler said. “We’re

looking at everything they said.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].