Planners straddle the fence at church

-- Jennifer Kho

The Costa Mesa Planning Commission this week gave Prince of Peace

Lutheran Church two years to remove a corner portion of chain-link fence

on church property.

The decision was a compromise between neighbors’ desire to be rid of

the fence and the church’s intent to protect its children.

About 600 feet of the fence on the property is legal because it was

installed before a 1997 code change prohibiting chain-link fences next to

public rights-of-way went into effect.

About 260 feet of new chain-link fence was added on a corner of the

property two months after the code’s start date, however.

Neighbors said the fenced corner, which separates the church

playground from the street, is an “architectural monstrosity” that gives

the intersection at Baker Street and Mesa Verde Drive -- the entrance to

the Mesa Verde community -- an “industrial look.”

Church representative Kevin Coleman said the church needs the fence

because it moved the children’s play area to the corner to accommodate

residents near the old play area who had complained about noise. The

church can’t afford an entirely new fence at this time, he said.

The planners’ decision does not require City Council approval and the

church now has two years to find a financial solution, commissioners

said.