Costa Mesa Council Debates Trinity Broadcasting Limits

The Costa Mesa City Council wrangled late into the evening Monday with a request that it rescind a month-old Planning Commission order requiring Trinity Broadcasting Network to prove its “good neighborliness” before being granted permission to tape religious services outdoors.

Last month, the commission imposed two dozen restrictions on TBN operations, including a 10 p.m. curfew for churchgoers, limits on nighttime hours of its million-light display and limits on street parking by buses and cars. The TV ministry was told that it must adhere to the guidelines for nine months before commissioners would consider the outdoor taping plan.

Though many of the restrictions on TBN -- the world’s largest Christian television ministry -- were in direct response to complaints from the station’s neighbors, network lawyers filed an appeal April 1 accusing the city of trying to appease residents “who clearly have an agenda which has nothing to do with quality-of-life issues.”

“This motion ... imposes a substantial, undue burden on TBN’s ability to conduct its religious services in a manner it chooses without a valid, justifiable or legally viable reason,” the appeal said.

On Monday, a planned discussion of the matter was moved low on the City Council’s agenda without explanation.

One resident, who lives next door to the network’s complex at Bear Street and the San Diego Freeway, has said she hears every word of the song-filled recording sessions despite closed doors and double-paned windows.