Church Meets Resistance : Neighbors Say It Would Mar Equestrian Surroundings

Dumitru Badescu, an architect who defected to this country in 1978 and settled in Southern California, vividly recalls how churches were demolished with regularity in his native Romania.

Recently, Badescu, 47, decided to donate his architectural skills to an American version of a Romanian Orthodox church on nearly eight acres of vacant land in Shadow Hills as “a thanks to God that I am here.”

But Badescu and the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, which purchased the land, have run into strong resistance from about 250 neighbors.

“I’m a little bit disappointed coming from a country where they’re destroying churches to meet opposition here to building the church,” said Badescu, who speaks English with a heavy accent.

“I can understand that, even in a free country, you cannot do everything you want . . . but a church means a good thing.”

Fear of Marring Landscape

Residents near the proposed church in the 10500 block of Wentworth Street say they have no quarrel with the Romanian Orthodox faith. They say they are battling construction of the $2.5-million church complex because they believe it will mar the rural landscape and disrupt their equestrian life styles.

“I feel sorry for them, especially when they came into the hearing and said, ‘My dream is to have this little church,’ ” Vicki Snow, president of the East Valley Horse Owners Assn., said of the parish members. “But you want to say, ‘Well, I’m sorry, but we want our rural life style, and it just could upset it.’ ”

Now in a smaller building in Glendale, Holy Trinity is the only Romanian Orthodox church in the Los Angeles area, said church member Joseph Oros, building chairman. The parish has 220 members, an estimated 25% to 30% of whom, like Badescu, are Romanian emigres who have sought political asylum here.

Oros said church officials have petitioned the City of Los Angeles to permit construction of a 5,000-square-foot Byzantine-style building with a 68-foot domed tower in an area zoned for horse keeping and agriculture.

The preliminary design calls for a white stucco church that would seat about 300 people and a 7,000-square-foot social hall to accommodate 500 more. The complex, on 7.6 acres, also would include two wings with Sunday school classrooms, a library, clergy offices and a parking lot for 173 cars.

Request Denied

There was a public hearing on the matter in December. Shortly afterward, a city zoning administrator denied the construction request. The church has appealed the decision, and the matter will be reviewed and decided by the Board of Zoning Appeals in March, said Assistant Zoning Administrator Jon Perica.

“That project, located in another area, would be something we’d encourage,” said Perica, who turned down the request. “But I tend to give weight to the existing status quo.”

A petition signed by 250 people opposed to the church was presented at the public hearing, said Tina Eick, land-use chairwoman of the Shadow Hills Property Owners Assn.

Residents fear an increase in noise and traffic in their neighborhood and also worry that church membership will grow and spawn a larger complex.

“It isn’t so much what it is now, but what it could be down the line,” Snow said. “When the church comes in, they could start buying up the houses adjacent to the property and expand.”

No Expansion Plans

However, church officials say they have no plans for expansion.

“We have no idea how they got this idea of growth,” Oros said. “We’d just like to be good neighbors and build a beautiful, small church with no intention of explosive development.

“We do not want to make a giant enterprise; we just want to build a church and a hall.”

Oros contended that area homeowners have come up with a host of excuses simply to preserve the status quo.

“I felt they were groping for obstacles, groping for things to give us a difficult time,” Oros said. “They, I’m sorry to say, would just like to keep the land as is.”

City Councilman Joel Wachs said he is committed to keeping rural areas such as Shadow Hills unspoiled by development. Wachs said he opposes construction of the church because it goes against the rural grain of the community.

Preserving Unique Character

“It basically is one of the last areas like this, and we’re trying to preserve those couple of areas that have a unique character,” the councilman said.

However, church officials maintain that the church will blend in with the surroundings.

Architect Badescu said the white-stucco, tile-roofed complex will combine a traditional Byzantine design with “the Southern California look.” He also said that it is customary for Romanian Orthodox churches to be in hilly, rural areas.

Holy Trinity bought the property in October for $230,000, Oros said. He said the congregation has outgrown its site on Verdugo Road, which houses about 130 worshipers. Since the existing church was purchased in 1946, Oros said, church maintenance and repairs have cost about $250,000.

In an effort at compromise, the church has told Shadow Hills residents that it will provide trails on its property for horseback riders, Badescu said.

Snow acknowledged that the church, as planned, “doesn’t seem to interfere with any horse trails.”

“We think that even an equestrian area can use a church,” Oros said. “We think that churches are appropriate for the development of communities. Churches are an American way of life.”