Church Loses Bid to Meet at School

The newly organized Church of the Epiphany was denied permission Friday to hold its Sunday services at a Fairbanks Ranch private school.

San Diego County planning commissioners voted 3 to 2 to deny the church’s appeal of an earlier rejection after several members of the exclusive estate community protested the small congregation’s use of the Fairbanks Country Day School premises on El Apajo, saying they wanted to preserve the area’s rural character.

The decision denying the church use of the private school buildings is final and cannot be appealed to the county Board of Supervisors.

The Rev. Robert Noble, pastor of the church, said the congregation of about 20 families has been meeting at the school for a year and will continue to use the facilities until the county sets a deadline for their ouster or until another temporary meeting place is found. The parish is an offshoot of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Del Mar.

Noble said that attempts to find another meeting place in the North City area east of Interstate 15 have been unsuccessful.

All the public school buildings are in use, and the county has ruled that the private school cannot allow the Episcopal parish to use its facilities without obtaining a change in its conditional-use permit, Noble said. Application for the permit revision would cost at least $3,000--more than the small congregation can afford, he explained.

“I guess we need a miracle,” he said.