BUENA PARK : Church Relocation Proposal Revived

The City Council agreed Monday to allow a church congregation to resubmit to the Planning Commission a proposal to convert a vacant building into the Southern California Full Gospel Church.

The Planning Commission rejected the proposal last month on the grounds that the site at 7050 Valley View St. would exacerbate problems with traffic circulation and pedestrian safety. They said churchgoers would be forced to use an entrance on Orangethorpe Avenue that already is shared by patrons of a gas station and two restaurants, one of which has a drive-through lane.

The commissioners also said that parking lots there do not have enough spaces for the proposed 362-member congregation and that churchgoers would end up using parking areas designated for the neighboring businesses. A staff report also said the church would not mix well with the other businesses there.

But officials of the 6-year-old church, which shares space with a Long Beach church, said membership is 100 and that the size of the congregation is not expected to increase to the original estimate of 362 in the near future.

In submitting a new proposal, church elder Richard Park said the church will revise its congregation estimate and call for fewer parking spaces. The church will also propose a reconfigured entrance on Orangethorpe Avenue.

“The church can be a beautiful, perfect match to that area,” Park told the council. “The residents can have a better surrounding area than they do now. We should be allowed to have a chance to show our plans to the city planners.”

One neighbor, Michael Grant, who owns the Texaco station at the corner of Orangethorpe Avenue and Valley View Street, opposed the church relocating to the area because of increased traffic.

Others, however, supported the idea.

“I have never been for any use of this property save this one,” said Michael Bright, who lives in a nearby neighborhood. “To me, it seems like a good buffer and a good mix. . . . I don’t want a great big, giant strip mall.”