WESTMINSTER : Church Can Submit New Parking Plans

The City Council has allowed a congregation to submit new parking plans for its proposed church on Magnolia Street.

Last week’s unanimous vote by the council gives the Emanuelu Christian Church another chance to meet parking requirements, in effect putting on hold a decision by the Planning Commission to deny a permit for the proposed church.

“I think the council honestly tried to accommodate us,” said Fatu Auau, pastor of the 90-member congregation, which is proposing to convert a former office building at 14601 Magnolia St. to a church.

The church will be located close to single-family houses and a strip mall, and nearby residents and businesses have complained about the potential for traffic congestion and noise if the church is allowed to open.

“Everyone has to go to a church,” said resident Patricia Persico. “However, this is not the place for it.”

Another resident, Paul Spehar, said that with the anticipated increase in traffic on Magnolia Street, “it’s an accident waiting to happen.”

In rejecting the congregation’s request for a permit, the Planning Commission ruled in October that the church is one parking space short of the 39 spaces required under city code. The church has no room to grow in the future, commissioners said.

But “to be fair, we should give the church a chance to work out some arrangements with our planning people,” said Councilman Tony Lam at last week’s meeting.

The new plans would be submitted to the Planning Commission this month for review, according to Stanley M. Swiatek, a church elder who owns the building being considered for the church. But Swiatek said he is not happy with the way the commission handled the congregation’s permit request.

“We’re not asking for special privileges,” Swiatek said. “It’s something you would not refuse to somebody else.”

The city has been grappling with parking problems at local churches, particularly those that have been converted from commercial or office buildings. Last month the council tentatively approved an ordinance that requires churches to provide one parking space for every three permanent seats in the church or for every 30 square feet of floor area.

The new ordinance will not apply to Emanuelu Christian Church and other existing churches. But it will apply to new churches and those planning major expansions, officials said.

The current ordinance deals with parking on a case-by-case basis, depending on the size and design of the church.

Church leaders say the proposed ordinance is unfair and discriminatory because it imposes stricter parking requirements for churches than such public assembly places as movie houses, nightclubs and funeral parlors. The proposed ordinance would require those businesses to have one parking space for every four permanent seats or for every 100 square feet of floor area.

“We love to have overcrowding in our local churches,” said Mayor Charles V. Smith, referring to the proposed ordinance. “But we don’t want to cause it.”