Chatsworth Community Protests : Church Moving Plan Resisted

A plan to relocate a 10,000-member church from Van Nuys to an exclusive Chatsworth neighborhood is drawing protests from homeowners who say the move would disrupt and harm their community.

Members of the Monteria Estates Assn. say the proposed transplanting of First Baptist Church of Van Nuys would create traffic congestion, lower property values and damage the aesthetics of their enclave.

The homeowners include former television newscaster Christine Lund, actor Chad Everett and Bernard Gelson, a co-founder of Gelson’s Markets. They reacted strongly this week to suggestions that they oppose the relocation because of anti-church sentiment.

“This isn’t church or no church,” Gelson said. “The issue is that the use of that property is made for homes.”

The Rev. Jess Moody, senior pastor of the church, said Tuesday that the church “definitely” is moving ahead with the relocation, despite the opposition. The homeowners, Moody said, are basing their opposition on fear and emotion instead of facts.

“They’re afraid of a ghost that ain’t,” he said.

At issue is the proposed church site at the base of the Monteria Estates, a 285-acre community of about 40 expensive homes and ranches hidden away at the north end of Winnetka Avenue between Devonshire Street and the Simi Valley Freeway. The new church would include a sanctuary, outdoor wedding chapel, lake, fountains and parking areas, Moody said.

For the relocation to succeed, the church must obtain a conditional-use permit allowing it to build in an area that limits development to one home for every two acres.

In a Sept. 1 church newsletter, Moody said it was God’s will to relocate the church to keep the West San Fernando Valley “from Satan’s grip.”

Moody said the move makes sense from a practical standpoint because most of the congregation lives in the West Valley and the East Valley is well served by other large churches.

Jim Rives, executive associate pastor of the church, said the new church would conform aesthetically to the ranch-style neighborhood and would be situated along busy Devonshire, away from the main part of Monteria Estates. Large increases in traffic would occur only on Sundays, Rives said.

The Southern Baptist church has opened escrow with homeowner Alex Varga to purchase 12 acres at the base of the community on the north side of Devonshire, east of Winnetka. The church wants to purchase another two acres on the west side of Winnetka, but the property owner, Michael McFerrin, so far has refused to sell.

Church Alleges Interference

In an Oct. 21 letter to Ray Mulokas, president of the homeowners group, the church said it was informed that the association had persuaded McFerrin not to sell the property and that it felt this was grounds for legal action by the church because it was “interference with a prospective business advantage.”

McFerrin fired back a letter to the church saying he was not influenced by the homeowners and that the accusation was “entirely unfounded.”

The Monteria Estates homeowners voted at a recent meeting to oppose the conditional-use permit that would allow the church or any large commercial development on the site, Lund said.

Varga, who has agreed to sell his property to the church, said he interpreted the vote and some comments made at the meeting as representing anti-church sentiment. Varga said he was miffed because the association had not met as a group with church leaders to discuss the proposal.

“My personal feeling is that they just don’t want a church,” Varga said.

But Lund and other Monteria Estates homeowners said some association board members met with church leaders before voting to oppose the plan. Board members felt that the proposal would be out of character with the neighborhood, Lund said.

She called the proposal a “dramatically intensive plan” that is “way out of line with the two-acre minimum.”

“There wasn’t much more to talk about,” Lund said

Adjacent Neighbors Contacted

Lund said she and others in her community are contacting residents in adjacent neighborhoods to enlist more opposition. “We must have the power and the will of the community to oppose this,” she said.

Don Chase, who lives in a neighborhood east of Monteria Estates, said homeowners on all sides of the proposed church site have begun organizing against the relocation, believing that a large church would ruin the serenity of the neighborhood and lower property values.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, whose district includes Monteria Estates, said he would support the relocation if a majority of nearby homeowners agree to it. At this point, however, it appears they do not, Bernson said.

The councilman said he would still like to see the church move to Chatsworth. “We just have to find the right spot,” Bernson said.