Costa Mesa : Church Rejects Order to Get Soup Kitchen Permit

A Costa Mesa church says it won’t comply with a city order to a seek a permit for the soup kitchen the church has operated since April.

The South Coast Christian Church on Monday sent a letter to the city saying it would not apply for the permit because the soup kitchen is part of the church’s long-held mission.

“They’re defining the normal functions of a church much different than a church would define it,” said Bob Ewing, the church’s pastor. “We have a call in the mission of our church, which comes from Jesus Christ, that we are to care for the poor, needy and the hungry.”

Costa Mesa’s Planning Department sent them notice two weeks ago that they would have to obtain a permit to operate the Someone Cares soup kitchen, which the church has been running since April.

Perry Valantine, the city’s assistant development services director, said the soup kitchen is technically in violation of the church’s conditional-use permit because it is “not a normal part of church activity.”

“We’re not saying that the use is inappropriate, we’re saying they need a permit,” Valantine said. The city requested the permit after receiving several complaints about the soup kitchen from nearby residents.

The soup kitchen had operated at the Rea Community Center until April, when it moved to the church to ease neighborhood tensions over the numbers of poor and homeless people attracted to the center.

Another organization at Rea Community Center, Save Our Selves, also will be moving. The City Council last month voted to give Save Our Selves, a major source of food and clothing for an estimated 20,000 people, six months to relocate.

Valantine and Ewing both said they hope that each side would sit down and resolve the matter.

“I hope the city would back off and sit down and talk with us about the issue,” Ewing said. “We don’t want to fight. But if they push the issue, we will.”