A House Divided Stands in Cypress

At Monday night’s Cypress City Council meeting, longtime resident Mary Crowder stepped to the microphone. She wanted to make clear what she thought of the Cottonwood Christian Center’s plan to build a mega-church on land it owns instead of letting the city develop it as a site for a Costco store.

“I don’t care where they go,” Crowder said of the church and congregants, “but get the hell out of Cypress!”

Six speakers later, another longtime resident in the audience approached the council. Siding with Cottonwood, he said, “When you buy something, you ought to be able to build on it.”

The speaker was Al Crowder, Mary’s husband of nearly 49 years.

And you thought the Cottonwood issue hadn’t divided the city?

Depending on which side you’re on, the church is either selfishly denying Cypress a chance to generate tax revenue at a prime location, or the city is being heavy-handed in trying to thwart the church’s plans to expand.

The next day, I tried mediation with the Crowders.

“I didn’t know she was going to speak,” Mr. Crowder, 73, says. “I asked her, ‘What are you going to get up and speak about?’ She said, ‘None of your business.’ ”

I ask Mary Crowder, 68, why she can’t change her husband’s mind.

“I’ve tried,” she says, “but this has been one of our biggest issues that we’ve never seen eye-to-eye on. I’ve tried to show him where the church is wrong, but he just thinks the city is trying to overstep its bounds. He never did stand up and fight for the city like I did.”

I ask Mr. Crowder why he can’t change his wife’s mind.

“You’d really have to live with her for 49 years,” he says, wryly. “She’s too hard-headed, and she probably has the same opinion of me.”

To Mr. Crowder, the church’s ownership of the land at Katella Avenue and Walker Street entitles it to do what it wants. “I’m against eminent domain, period,” he says. “I believe the church has a right to build wherever it wants and have their congregation. This is an established church that needs to expand.”

Mrs. Crowder bridles at that. “I think the church is trying to overrun the city. They’re trying to be the boss instead of the people who live in Cypress. I’m not for eminent domain, but I am against the church and the way they are going at things. I think the city has been more than fair [in its monetary offer for the land], and the church ought to be thankful I’m not on the council, because it would have heard words it didn’t want to hear.”

Such as?

“I’d be calling them hypocrites, because nobody who’s a true Christian would do the things they’re doing.” She’s miffed that some Cottonwood supporters have, in her opinion, sullied Cypress’ reputation by suggesting the city is anti-church.

“Instead of just keeping this local, in Cypress, they went all over the U.S., to Oral Roberts and those kind of ministers ... and then people overseas got hold of the message that Cypress is not friendly and we don’t want a church here. That bothers me as a longtime resident, because we’ve never had that name.”

Mr. Crowder shrugs that off. “I think the city has gotten more or less a black eye. But no, I don’t think the church has done it. The city has done it to themselves. They’re the ones who dragged the whole thing out. If they’d gone ahead and let them build the church, this never would have come up.”

Last week, a federal judge temporarily enjoined the city from pursuing eminent domain against Cottonwood. He gave strong signals that he sides with the church in its pending lawsuit with the city.

Mr. Crowder says the city should drop the legal fight. His wife disagrees. “We’re not going to roll over and play dead,” she says.

I suggest to Mr. Crowder that his wife seems more worked up over the matter than he.

“She gets kind of radical that way,” he says.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach him at (714) 966-7821 or dana.parsons@latimes.com.