Church Battles Panel Over Land Use

The Palos Verdes Peninsula, with its miles of horse trails and pricey neighborhoods rising high above the Pacific Ocean, is a place of aspiration, as well as inspiration.

South Bay residents call it “The Hill.” And for years, Pastor Phil Bonasso dreamed about leading his flock there.

His Morning Star Christian Church, which holds Sunday services in a high school auditorium in Torrance, has been looking for a permanent home since 1981. So he believed his prayers were answered last year with the purchase of a vacant theater in Rolling Hills Estates, one of the communities on the peninsula.

But earlier this week, the City Council--hoping to attract more moneymaking enterprises--unanimously approved a new ordinance that banned all churches from commercial zones. Churches will be allowed only in so-called institutional areas.

Morning Star members say those neighborhoods have no available property for their congregation.

“We are perplexed,” said Bonasso, leader of the nondenominational, evangelical church.

The former theater had appeared to be a godsend, he said, with its beautiful location and acoustically pleasing high ceilings. It can easily accommodate growth for the congregation of 180 adults and 70 children.

Attorneys representing the church contend that the new zoning ordinance bars the church from entering the community and, therefore, violates the 1st Amendment.

City officials say the issue is proper land use, with an eye toward increasing tax revenues.

Rolling Hills Estates, a bedroom community of about 8,300 residents, is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation, with a median household income exceeding that of Beverly Hills.

But since 1991, the city has seen a 29% drop in sales tax revenues, which make up nearly a third of its total revenues. Sales taxes fell by 15% last year alone, after the closure of the city’s two largest department stores, Macy’s and Robinsons-May, according to the city.

With the recent closure of the city’s shopping mall for renovation, retail and office vacancy rates have climbed to 50%.

The revitalization of the city’s business districts was a serious consideration in the City Council’s decision to pass the new ordinance, said administrative analyst Michele Swanson. The ordinance, which amends city zoning codes, prohibits not just churches but also schools from the commercial areas.

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Mayor Robert Beck praised the new ordinance for allowing the city to “preserve the commercial nature of the commercial zones,” in accordance with its general plan.

Such talk confounds church leaders, who say they are rescuing a building that had been covered with graffiti and stood empty for at least three years. Although it would not generate tax revenues, it would help local businesses by drawing potential shoppers to the area, said Mark Foster, director of operations for Morning Star International Inc., the parent nonprofit organization of the church.

A church-sponsored survey of 65 neighboring businesses and more than 400 residents showed a vast majority support the congregation using the former theater, which has also been used as a skating rink.

Church representatives complain that the ordinance allows new houses of worship to move to Rolling Hills Estates only in theory.

“The only space left for churches is the institutional zone, but there isn’t available property in that zone,” said Michael Imfeld, an attorney working with the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal aid group representing the church. The existing parcels are already full of schools and existing churches, none of which are likely to move any time soon, he said. “It’s a very small area. It’s all built out. There is nothing for sale, nothing for lease there.’

Council members say new churches can move into the community if they are able to pay the cost. “Property is there. It can be traded at market prices,” said City Councilman Steven Zuckerman.

Church officials said they are considering a lawsuit.

“We had hoped to be a great neighbor,” said Bonasso. He spoke wistfully about the “beauty of the area” and how the quiet, rural landscape “brings people closer to God.”

But council members say the city is simply looking out for its economic future.

“We’re not anti-religion, anti-freedom of speech,” said Beck. “We’re just doing what we think is best for the community.”