Crystal Cathedral Project Rejected : Building, Cemetery Denied; Church Willing to Alter Plans

A Crystal Cathedral official said Friday that the church is willing to alter its plans for a six-story building and cemetery on its property to appease neighbors, who convinced the Garden Grove Planning Commission on Thursday to reject the $20-million expansion plan.

Ole Nordberg, vice president of operations, declared: “We will do whatever we can to mediate their concerns.” He said, though, that he thought the plans presented Thursday night had mollified neighbors who complained that the expansion would increase traffic and parking problems in the area.

The expansion calls for a six-story family-center building southwest of the church and a 73,700-square-foot cemetery on the northwest corner of the Chapman Avenue property.

The project entails building a family center with a gymnasium, locker rooms, a theater, child-care facilities, classrooms, a library and bookstore. The building would have two subterranean floors.

Dr. Herman Ridder, president of the church’s congregation, said at the hearing: “The new building will not increase the need for new parking. The new building would pull the church family together, which is presently scattered among our buildings.” He contended that an agreement with the Tishman West Management Corp. would solve the parking problem by providing spaces at its office complex across Lewis Street.

Ridder said the church needs the center for Christian education classes and child care, but neighbors protested that the expansion would cause a myriad of problems, ranging from blocking out sunlight to lowering property values and adding noise to the area.

Ted Faulkner, a resident of Dawn Avenue, said: “I am violently opposed to the building. I feel that it is a real invasion of our privacy. They have just overbuilt their property.”

While the planning commissioners agreed that they were proud of the nationwide recognition that the Crystal Cathedral had brought the city, they said the plans would create too many problems for the area’s neighbors. The sole yes vote was cast by Commissioner Manuel Nunes.

Commissioner John Pope said: “The parking is inadequate. We have no guarantee that you will not come back here in five years and want to expand again. We have no guarantee of you keeping those parking spaces.” The Planning Department staff had recommended approval of the expansion but attached a number of conditions to alleviate parking, traffic and drainage problems in the area.

The recommendation would have required the church to contract for additional parking because the expansion would displace about 260 spaces. The staff also recommended closing a driveway on Dawn Avenue with iron fencing and sealing a pedestrian-access gate on Salerno Street to discourage parking on those streets by church-goers.

The staff recommended installing a new drainage system and requiring the city to assess the parking and traffic situation on the nearby residential streets within six months.

The recommendation also included imposing a parking ban on Sundays on Dawn Avenue and Salerno Street, parking by permit only, no parking on the north side of Dawn Avenue or no turns onto Dawn Avenue on Sunday mornings.