The parking issue

Barbara Diamond

Neighbors say parking on Temple Terrace during services at St.

Catherine of Siena Church is already a problem and some of them fear it

will get worse when the church expansion project is completed. However,

the church is not legally obliged to fix the problem.

Churches are required to provide additional off-street parking only if

the assembly area is increased, not for an increase in space for uses

such as offices. The proposed addition to St. Catherine’s is for office

space and meeting rooms.

“Yes it is legal to build the addition without putting in parking, but

is it fair to the neighbors?” said Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman.

Kinsman was the only council member to support a unanimous

recommendation by the city Planning Commission that would require a

modest increase in off-street parking for the proposed church uses.

“This is a loophole in the code,” said Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman.

“The churches know it and they use it.”

City churches rushed to support Calvary Chapel’s position a couple of

years ago that expanding the former market it owned on South Coast

Highway to include offices and meeting rooms should not require more

parking. The building was subsequently sold and the church moved out of

town.

The city code requires one parking space for every three fixed seats

or one space for every 35 feet in the assembly area. Buildings

constructed before the code was adopted are credited with nonexistent

spaces, based on the use. The procedure is called grandfathering and has

been the subject of debate by the Planning Commission and the City

Council.

St. Catherine’s has never had off-street parking for the public. None

was required when the church was built in the 1930s and none will be

required because of a proposed addition that doubles the size of the

church, but does not include the assembly area.

St. Catherine project architect Frank McNamara of the Newport Beach

firm Corcoran & Corcoran said at the Feb. 28 Design Review Board meeting

that curb modifications and re-striping would result in a gain in street

parking on Temple Terrace, which church spokesman Robert Lawson estimated

would be six to eight spaces.

Laguna Beach architect Morris Skendarian prepared a church expansion

plan about three years ago that included parking on the rear portion of

the property. He said it would be costly because of the slope of the lot

down from Temple Hills Drive to Temple Terrace, but it is doable. A model

of Skendarian’s proposal is displayed in his office.