Tie Vote Gives Go-Ahead for Disputed Church

There will be a church in the valley after all, despite strong land-use objections by the San Dieguito Planning Group.

A 2-2 vote by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday was all that was needed to clear the way for the Church of the Nativity to build a $2.8-million facility in the San Dieguito River Valley.

That plan has rankled members of the San Dieguito Planning Group, which has twice voted against the church’s plans to build in the river’s flood plain.

“I wish it were anything but the Church of the Nativity,” said Dan Chesivoir, chairman of the planning group. Chesivoir said the advisory group was not against churches or religion, but felt the land was not suitable for a church location on two counts.

‘Opening the Gate’

“By allowing the church to go in there, we’ll open up the area for more development,” Chesivoir said. He fears that the church building, along El Apajo Road between Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe, will set a precedent for commercial development in the area. “There’s 26 acres across the street that the owners want to turn into commercial” property, he said. “I think this is opening the gate now. It puts this street into transition.”

The land in question is zoned for estate residential development requiring at least two acres for every single-family home. Chesivoir noted that the church’s plan for a spire towering 67 feet went against other regulations that limit building heights to 30 feet.

The planning group also objects to building in that area on grounds that the church is within the river valley’s 100-year flood plain. “We don’t think they should put homes or anything else there,” Chesivoir said.

The Board of Supervisors vote came after the planning group appealed the San Diego County Planning Commission’s 6-0 vote on March 13, to issue a major use permit to the church. The vote on Wednesday was whether to continue the matter. Supervisors Susan Golding and John MacDonald voted in favor of continuance. Supervisors Leon Williams and Brian Bilbray voted against. The tie vote--Supervisor George Bailey was absent--meant the Planning Commission’s vote stood.

Spanish Colonial Style

Father Dennis Clark, the pastor of the Roman Catholic church, rejected the planning group’s concerns that the church is incompatible with the zoning. “A church is compatible with everything from rural to urban to intensely developed factories,” Clark said. “It has no effect as far as triggering (commercial development).”

With Wednesday’s action, Clark said the church would move “immediately” to begin grading operations on the property. Los Angeles architect Charles Moore has been contracted to develop “a comprehensive parish plan that is world class and suitable for the setting and congenial with the dominant (architectural) style of Spanish colonial,” Clark said.

Buildings will stand on only 10% of the land, with an additional 18% allocated for formal gardens and parking, Clark said. The remaining area will be open space.

Clark hopes the church offices will be completed before the end of the year, and the entire project will be finished by the end of 1988.

The Church of the Nativity was founded in 1984. Parish members purchased an 8.7-acre plot in January, 1985, on El Apajo Road.

The congregation is made up of families from Rancho Santa Fe, Whispering Palms and Fairbanks Ranch areas, Clark said.

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