The tough choice on St. Andrew’s must be made

The Newport Beach City Council tonight faces its toughest decision in

years -- certainly the toughest that the council’s newer members,

Leslie Daigle, Steve Rosansky, Ed Selich and Don Webb, have yet to

tackle.

Their vote on whether to allow St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church to

expand its 104,000-square-foot facility by 21,741 square feet is so

difficult to make because there is no wrong side to the debate, no

bad guy the council can turn down.

Leaders at St. Andrew’s are among the most active members of the

community, quick to offer time or money to causes big and small. The

neighbors are fighting to maintain one of the city’s oldest

neighborhoods, with its winding, tree-lined streets. It has remained

remarkably unchanged over the years -- aside from the ever-swelling

homes.

What both the church and the neighbors want is a better community

with a better quality of life. It is their visions of that

improvement that differ dramatically.

St. Andrew’s has been a source of spiritual and community

leadership in Newport Beach for more than 50 years. Its members are

quick to point to the myriad supports the church offers, among them

help with parenting, assistance with rent money, and counseling

during divorce or when a loved one dies. It has helped support the

Shalimar Learning Center and Friends in Service to Humanity. It was

among the churches that founded Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

The central, compelling reason why the church wants to expand is

so it can continue its worthy mission: reaching out to people,

especially young families and younger people, and providing more

spiritual guidance to its members. A gym and rooms for youth

activities make up the bulk of the plan.

The church’s leader, the Rev. John Huffman, has said that the goal

of the expansion is not to grow the church’s membership, and there

are no plans to expand the church’s sanctuary. The expansion also,

arguably, will alleviate parking problems on the streets by adding

spaces on the property and closing off walking access to Clay Street.

It also will bring activities that are the source of noise indoors.

The church’s neighbors, understandably, have grown weary of the

success of St. Andrew’s mission, which has kept the church’s

membership above 4,000 people. They complain of cars parked in front

of driveways, of streets crowded with cars passing to and from the

church on Sundays and even during the week. They argue that the

church, which expanded back in 1982, already is big enough and that

further growth would be too much for their neighborhood -- one that

also is home to Newport Harbor High School, Ensign Intermediate

School and Newport Heights Elementary School and the crowds of cars

both bring. They believe that they already have done the neighborly

thing by compromising with the church back in 1982. Finally, they

argue that St. Andrew’s is no longer a “neighborhood” church that

deserves that same degree of compromise, but a regional one -- or, to

use a phrase loaded with meaning, a “mega church.”

These are the two sides of this difficult debate, neither one

wrong. But tonight the council will have to decide which is the more

right.

Tonight, the council should side with the church. The central

reason why is because talk of St. Andrew’s being a “mega church” does

not ring true. The church’s sanctuary is not getting any bigger, and

the maximum number of people it can have at either of its Sunday

services will remain about 1,300.

The new youth and family center might draw more kids during the

week; it might increase the numbers at the church’s Wednesday night

youth program; and it will likely help maintain the church’s

membership numbers, but it will not cause the streets to be flooded

with many more cars on Sundays or any other days.

The only way St. Andrew’s is going to grow is in its ability to

serve its members and the community.

It is more than understandable that neighbors are balking so much

at the church’s plans. Their fears of more traffic and more noise are

ones any homeowner would share. But the plan has a number of pieces

that should improve the neighborhood: rerouting traffic, including

having an independent traffic management plan; putting parking spaces

underground, so the noise of people getting into and out of their

cars is reduced; adding better facilities that will be more

soundproof; and putting in a landscaped wall along Clay Street that

will be a buffer for neighbors and will eliminate an entrance and

exit on that street.

The church also will have to abide by dozens of rules imposed by

the city, and these are a key piece to the success of this expansion.

Church leaders and members, if they earn the council’s approval, will

have to take extraordinary steps to continue being a good neighbor.

Church leaders will need to enforce their members’ parking in the

new lot. They will need to ensure that the traffic stays on the

larger streets, 15th and Irvine. They and members should take steps

to limit traffic by carpooling and even walking to the services.

And most of all, if St. Andrew’s ever does grow to the size of a

Mariners Church or the Crossing, two Newport-Mesa churches that

outgrew their homes, its leaders will need to recognize that it no

longer fits into this neighborhood and decide if their mission or

location needs to change.

For now, though, St. Andrew’s should continue ministering in

Newport Beach, which is better off for having the church in the

community.