Citrus Tree Plan Fails to Take Root

A community effort to plant an orange grove on the grounds of a Placentia church stalled Sunday after the church board decided expanding its current facilities must come first.

Blessed Sacrament Church and a local preservationist group had discussed planting the grove after Placentia’s last stand of citrus was bulldozed last year for new homes. The church was built in 1961 on what had been an orange grove.

The Rev. David Baumann, the Episcopal church’s rector, came up with the idea of a memorial grove last month as a joint effort of the congregation and local group Preserve Our Past.

Baumann said Monday, however, that “the church is going into a building program soon, so this was sacrificed. We can’t do more than one thing.”

A task force of church members and preservationists drafted a report that projected an initial cost of $10,000. The grove would have required an irrigation system and other maintenance costs, Baumann said, and the church board felt that the congregation does not have the time or the money to invest in it.

“It will be at least three years before we can come back to this idea,” the priest said.

Members of the preservation group said the proposal may have been poorly timed but still expressed disappointment in the board’s decision.

“This was the reverend’s idea,” said John Penner, president of the community group. “I guess it was a little more his idea than theirs.”