Neighbors Protest Nuns’ Plans to Build Convent

The wrath of a group of Sunland-Tujunga area residents came down Tuesday on a small order of Roman Catholic nuns who want to build a hillside convent and retreat.

The Sisters of Bethany, based in Santa Barbara, heard the protestations at a special meeting attended by 60 people at the Sunland-Tujunga Municipal Building.

The meeting was called by the nuns in an effort to calm the residents’ fears. But many of the homeowners went away believing that the 5.6-acre project--to be called the Bethania Casa De Oracion, or Bethany House of Prayer--would disturb the tranquillity of the largely undeveloped hillside and could attract future development.

“It’s going to be right on top of the hill,” said Jim Engle, 32, who lives below the proposed site. “The traffic will be detrimental to the area. Right now, I can go for walks and not be worried about getting run over.”

Another resident, John Greco, 32, said: “I like seeing horses and dogs running all around that hill. I don’t want to see buses going by. I don’t want to see roads paved up there.”

The proposed location is on hilly terrain on the north side of Verdugo Crestline Drive between Viewpoint Drive and Estaban Way. The property is zoned for agricultural use and for 22 single-family homes.

One of the nuns, Sister Donna Marie DelColliano, tried to assure the residents that the convent would have no negative effect on the area.

“We are trying to come to this mountain to seek tranquillity and peace,” she said. “We’re not here to destroy the mountaintop. We’re here to enhance it.”

DelColliano said: “Jesus went to Bethany to relax. That’s what we want to do.”

The nuns’ plan to build a retreat house, convent and three other buildings on the property was denied in June by Los Angeles zoning officials. Planning officials said that the paving of unimproved streets and disturbance of the ground could result in runoff during rainstorms that could damage surrounding homes.

Now the nuns want to build a slightly smaller project that will house fewer people. Three nuns would be full-time occupants of the convent, and there would be room for 43 more during seminars and retreats, DelColliano said. Previously room for 50 nuns had been planned.

The project is to be reconsidered next month by the city.

Peter Lynch, a planning consultant helping the nuns, said that the opposition so overwhelmed the nuns that they at first went into seclusion.

Lynch said that substantial grading, landscaping and flood-control measures would be taken to protect the surrounding area.

Some of the residents attending the meeting said they favored the nuns’ project. “I think it would be an asset to the area,” said Ted Ferrara, 67.

Richard Seccombe, 38, who owns 15 acres nearby, called the retreat “the lesser of two evils. I know that the sisters have been approached by at least two developers who want to build on that land, and they aren’t into convents.”