Costa Mesa Church’s Mountain Retreat Plan Opposed

Palomar residents see a storm cloud hanging over pristine Jeff Valley atop Palomar Mountain that has nothing to do with Tuesday’s thunderheads.

The residents are bracing for yet another battle with a large, Costa Mesa-based church that wants to build a 560-acre retreat and conference center in the valley, which is next to a residential neighborhood on the mountain’s southern side.

Calvary Chapel, which boasts 20,000 supporters in Orange County, wants to develop the site as a Bible study center for as many as 679 guests and staff members at a time.

The facility would include dormitories for children and students, private suites for adults, kitchens, dining and multipurpose rooms, chapels, athletic fields, volleyball and tennis courts, and two swimming pools.

But the Palomar Mountain Planning Organization is steadfastly opposed to the project--as it has been since it was first pitched two years ago--because of the harm it says it will cause to the mountain’s environment and ambiance.

“I’m sure this (valley) is Paradise Found for them because it’s such a short distance from Orange County,” said George Ravenscroft, president of the Palomar Mountain Planning Organization. “But we don’t think there’s any way they can contain the impacts of this project to within the bounds of their landholding. We hate to see this be the one that got through the door.”

And Caltech officials who own and operate the Palomar observatories just a few miles to the north, including the world-famous, 200-inch Hale telescope, say they are concerned that the retreat center would sour the sky with a wash of light that would compromise their night work. The valley is situated just east of Crestline Road--one of the mountain’s residential areas--and north of county highway S-6 as it snakes down the mountain’s east grade toward Lake Henshaw.