Anaheim : Hope University Gets Another Chance to Move

The City Council on Tuesday granted a one-year permit extension to allow Hope University to establish a permanent campus on a south Anaheim church site.

The move has been delayed since the conditional-use permit was granted last year while officials for Euclid Street Baptist Church tried to find a new home for their congregation.

But after Tuesday’s council meeting, church officials said they hope to be able to transfer title of the three-acre church property in the 1400 block of South Euclid Street to Hope University within the next few weeks. Church officials plan to build a larger complex in east Anaheim.

The university, a private school for developmentally disabled people who are artistically talented, currently is housed in a shopping-center storefront at Ball Road and Brookhurst Street. Of the school’s 35 students, 10 perform with the Hi Hopes touring troupe.

UNICO, a national service organization and sponsor of Hope University, has agreed to buy the property from the Baptist church for $1.1 million. The Euclid Street site includes a 500-seat sanctuary and two classroom buildings.

The council voted 4 to 0 to grant the extension. Mayor Ben Bay, who voted against the original permit last year, abstained.

At public hearings last year, neighbors protested Hope University’s move, arguing that a school would add traffic and noise problems. No opposition was heard Tuesday. But since the extension request was put on the council’s agenda at the last minute, notices were not sent out to neighboring property owners, City Atty. Jack L. White said.

As a condition of granting the extension, church representatives agreed to defend any court challenges over the city’s action while they owned the property.