Rural Homeowners Fail to Block Church Construction

A two-year-old conflict between a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation and residents of an Escondido neighborhood continued to simmer Friday after the San Diego County Planning Commission failed to block a plan by the religious group to build a large sanctuary in a rural Escondido neighborhood.

Commissioners voted 3-1 at a public hearing to uphold an appeal by homeowners to block development of the 500-seat Kingdom Hall, but that was one vote short of the required number of votes. A fifth commissioner, Frank Urtasun, whose vote could have changed the outcome, had been present earlier but never returned from a break.

“It was so ridiculous. Travesty might be the right word,” said Jim Bohorquez, who filed the appeal on behalf of the homeowners. “We clearly were victorious, but we lost.”

The outcome of Friday’s hearing undoubtedly will further entrench the case, both sides say, but they are uncertain what direction it will take. The commission could request a rehearing and overturn its decision. Last year, a full commission voted unanimously to deny the Park Hill congregation’s original request to build the sanctuary.

Whether or not the commission makes a request, Bohorquez and other homeowners can make a last appeal, to the county Board of Supervisors. That board, too, last year denied the congregation’s first request for a permit.

Southern Escondido homeowners and environmental activists on Friday maintained that increased traffic would threaten the area’s residents and woodland habitat, already endangered by busy intersections in the neighborhood. Some 15 churches lie in a 2-square-mile radius of the proposed site, Bohorquez said.

But congregation officials argued that they have scaled down their request by agreeing to pay for street widening and improvements, limit church activities to Sundays and weeknights after 6:30 p.m., and confine development to only four of the site’s 10 acres.

“We’re willing to comply (and make concessions) in large part because all we’ve ever wanted was a house of worship,” said Byron Cornelius, the attorney for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Throughout Friday’s hearing, each side accused the other of giving false testimony about traffic and congestion conditions in the neighborhood. Earlier, protesting homeowners had reported being threatened and harassed by congregation members. Also, Bohorquez said, most who opposed the proposed development feared attending the hearing, because of a lawsuit filed by the congregation against hundreds of residents.

That lawsuit was dismissed earlier without prejudice, but could be reinstated at any time, said Bohorquez, one of the residents named in the suit. Another lawsuit against the county supervisors is on appeal, in an effort to get the board’s approval of the project, Cornelius said.

Congregation members have been searching for a site for the kingdom hall for five years. In 1987 they asked the county for a major-use permit to build a sanctuary for four Escondido congregations on the 10-acre lot, on one corner of a Bear Valley Parkway and Encino Drive intersection, said Ken Chernish, a spokesman for the group.

The county Planning and Environmental Review Board, planning commissioners and supervisors all denied the permit after area homeowners warned of potential traffic, congestion and safety problems, but allowed the congregation to refile for a permit. It did so, after scaling down the request, and won PERB approval, 2-1, in April, Chernish said. Homeowners then appealed to the county’s Planning Commission.