WESTMINSTER : City OKs Building Permit for Church

The City Council has granted a permit to the Korean Martyrs Catholic Center to add a two-story building to its facilities despite opposition by nearby apartment residents who said it will increase traffic.

The 7,709-square-foot building will provide meeting rooms, bathrooms and a nursery, and will ease the overcrowding in the church at 7655 Trask Ave., church officials said.

“Thank God there’s overcrowding in our churches, not in local bars,” said Mayor Charles V. Smith after the unanimous council vote last week.

In approving the permit, the council overturned a decision by the Planning Commission in August denying the permit because of “traffic problems in the neighborhood that would be aggravated by an expansion” of the church.

The Planning Commission had echoed the sentiments of nearby residents.

“There’s no room, plain and simple,” said Jean Adamson, who manages several apartment units near the church. “Our tenants complain all the time about the traffic and noise.”

About 140 residents signed a petition opposing the church expansion, fearing noise and traffic problems.

The Rev. Sean Brazil, pastor of the 3,000-member church for the past 3 1/2 years, said that the proposed building will provide more comfortable facilities for church members who now often gather in the yard and parking areas.

Church member Tom Lee said the church bought the 1 1/2-acre property in 1981 and has since made improvements, including paving the curbs and putting in new landscaping.

“We’re not vandals or criminals,” Lee said. “We want to make the neighborhood pleasing and increase property values.”

Brazil, 61, who spent 27 years as a missionary in Korea, said that the church has reached a “saturation point” and is not looking for new members. The church holds one service on Saturday and four on Sunday, starting at 7:30 a.m.

Brazil said the Catholic Diocese of Orange is planning to build a church in Irvine or a South County city for the Korean congregation, which has another church in Fullerton.

Construction of the new building will begin early next year, Brazil said, after the church collects the $800,000 estimated cost through donations and a fund-raiser planned later this year.