Pomona Plans to Rezone Site Being Sold by Church Group : Development: The zoning change is expected to increase profits for the Christian broadcasting company, Focus on the Family. The change will allow for high-rise construction.

The City Council this week gave an early going-away present to Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian broadcasting and publishing empire that plans to leave Pomona for Colorado.

The council by a 5-0 vote Monday gave preliminary approval to the organization’s request to rezone its Pomona property for high-rise construction, potentially increasing the sale price.

“They wish to maximize profits from the sale of their property,” said Steve Tarvin, the city’s acting community development director.

The organization’s move to Colorado will take place within two years of the sale of its Pomona property, Focus on the Family officials said. Pomona will lose 725 jobs.

The zone change would permit the construction of a building up to 10 stories, instead of the current maximum of three stories, on five acres at 861 Corporate Center Drive. The vacant lot lies between a pair of two-story buildings that house Focus on the Family operations near the junction of the San Bernardino Freeway, 57 Freeway and Corona Expressway.

Paul L. Hetrick, vice president of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that promotes Christian values through radio, films and publications, said the Pomona property must be sold before Focus on the Family can build a new headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Hetrick said the organization has not set a price on the Pomona property, which consists of 13 acres and two large buildings. It also has not listed the property with a broker. But the property is valued “in the $20-million range,” he said.

It is not clear how much the zone change would increase the property’s value, Hetrick said. Partly, he said, it depends on whether potential buyers are interested in high-rise construction or want the land for smaller buildings. In any event, the change will increase the marketability of the property, he said.

Officials of Focus on the Family announced in June that they had outgrown their facilities and had accepted an offer from a Colorado foundation for a $4-million grant that was contingent upon moving the headquarters to Colorado.

If the organization, which has a budget of $65 million a year, had stayed in Pomona, Hetrick said, it would have sought permission to build a high-rise office building itself on the vacant lot.

The 13-acre property is part of a 43-acre office park in which four other lots already are zoned for high-rise construction.

In giving preliminary approval to the zone change, council members said they hope that a major employer will be attracted to the property.

The council is expected to make a final decision on the zoning matter at its Dec. 17 meeting.