TRABUCO CANYON : Decision Postponed for Church Complex

A decision on a proposal to build a major church complex with a 4,800-seat sanctuary in the foothills near Trabuco Canyon was postponed Tuesday by the Orange County Planning Commission.

Commissioner Stephen A. Nordeck recommended that action on the $55-million project be delayed until Oct. 24 to give the Saddleback Community Church and the county an opportunity to discuss alternatives to the current proposal.

The 1,500-member congregation, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Church, wants to build a permanent home on 113 acres it owns bordering the Cleveland National Forest northeast of Mission Viejo. Besides the sanctuary, the church initially proposed building two lighted softball fields, 84 rooms for Sunday school classes and offices and parking for 2,200 vehicles in the sparsely populated area known for its oak trees and bucolic character.

But county planners said the church is “too urban” for the semi-rural area and recommended approval of a sanctuary half the size with fewer ancillary facilities. Church officials agreed with some of the changes, but not all, creating an impasse.

Nordeck on Tuesday said there may still be room to “strike a compromise” and persuaded the commission to wait two weeks before deciding on the project’s compatibility with the area.

Environmentalists have warned that construction of the church would destroy several hundred oak trees and damage valuable wildlife habitat. But church proponents say that their proposal would leave much of the acreage untouched and that the site may represent one of the last opportunities in southern Orange County to build such a facility because of rapidly escalating land prices.