Cattle-Breeding Site Loses Vote for Preservation : Northridge: Nearby residents fail in an effort to block church construction. The Cultural Heritage Commission can’t find any historic significance in the four-acre lot.

A Northridge neighborhood lost its bid Wednesday to have a four-acre lot designated a cultural-historic monument, clearing the way for a church to pursue building there.

The effort to preserve the lot in the 17400 block of Roscoe Boulevard began after the St. Athanius Coptic Orthodox Church expressed interest in buying the property.

Residents said the property should be preserved because it was an important cattle-breeding site in the 1940s and is one of the last small ranches in once-rural Northridge.

But opponents compared the effort to a nationally mocked campaign to block a mini-mall by declaring a Studio City carwash a cultural monument.

Proponents lost Wednesday when the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to deny the neighborhood’s request. Had it been granted, demolition of the 1939 ranch house designed by CSUN architect Ulysses Floyd Rible would have been blocked for at least a year.

“The architect is a distinguished architect, but all buildings designed by distinguished architects don’t necessarily win awards or become significant historically,” said commission member and architect Takashi Shida.

The commission also said it was not convinced that a Hereford bull named “Sugwas Feudal,” who was imported to the site from England in 1946, made a significant contribution to the meatpacking industry by strengthening the breed.

“Whether this type of cattle business had any impact on the area--I couldn’t find any,” added commission President Amarjit S. Marwah.

Residents were disappointed by the decision, attributing it partly to lack of support from City Hall. Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, wrote a letter to the commission urging denial of the request.

“We’ve lost something here,” said Anne Heidsick, an elementary school teacher who lives next door to the property in a converted barn on a one-acre lot. “This lot exemplifies an era that was crucial to the history of the Valley.”

Heidsick said residents will continue fighting the church’s effort to obtain a conditional-use permit to build a 40,500-square-foot chapel with a 600-seat sanctuary and 205 parking spaces. Last month, a city zoning administrator granted the permit request for a two-year period, but imposed 22 conditions. The neighbors have appealed the decision to the Board of Zoning Appeals, but no hearing date has been set.

Father Bishoy Bastawros, head of the Arleta-based church, said the congregation would be a good neighbor because the religion “doesn’t allow dancing or consuming of alcoholic beverages.”

But Heidsick said the neighborhood will fight the church because of its size. “Churches aren’t sweet little chapels like they used to be,” she said. “They’re huge, football field-sized things similar to shopping centers.”