St. Andrew’s could use a little political...

St. Andrew’s could use

a little political charity

Much has been said and written in the current debate over the

expansion of the St. Andrew’s facility in the Cliffhaven community.

Our council members deliberate over process and form.

Proponents of the rezoning and expansion elect to characterize the

building of a sports arena and massive parking structure within the

enclave of the surrounding residential neighborhood as a revetment to

preserve the wandering morals of youth from the corruption of

idleness.

Members of the church testify for our belief that for lack of

another sports venue and Christian rock band outlet Rivercity’s pool

halls will be filled with St. Andrew’s wayward youths.

Be that as it may, that the congregation’s message can’t find

purchase without the seduction of sweat and entertainment,

congregants need to embrace what the Cliffhaven community has already

so freely extended to St. Andrew’s: namely charity, faith, truth and

patience.

Twenty years ago, our community acceded to their dream to

transmogrify a neighborhood church to accommodate their expanded

flock. Despite assurances that the neighborhood would not be

adversely affected and that the 1984 expansion would complete their

vision, we are now being asked to suffer the erection of the “St.

Andrew’s Campus.”

Nonresident worshipers tell residents that the neighborhood’s

permanent inconvenience and blight are a small price to pay for the

faithful’s hour of weekly devotion.

Twenty years of congregants gamboling through our neighborhood

streets as they course toward moral rectitude will be offset by a

400-space multistory parking structure to service the metastasizing

religious mall.

Who among us would consent to such to you?

DAVE YOUNG

Newport Beach

Church’s expansion does not fit the neighborhood

We are residents living close to the St. Andrew’s project and have

been residents here for 24 years.

The continued growth of the St. Andrew’s complex has produced

increasing problems of traffic and noise and we are totally opposed

to any further expansion.

St. Andrew’s now appears to be a commercial operation stuck in a

residential zone.

Activities and noise have dramatically increased over the past few

years, often extending into the late evening. Frequently there are

activities seven days a week.

This is not just a Sunday problem.

The St. Andrew’s management has, over the past 18 years, promised

“to work with the residents” in order to reduce noise and the traffic

problems -- we feel none of these promises have ever been fulfilled,

so this management have obviously zero credibility.

The prospect of yet another major St. Andrew’s construction

project with the ensuing unacceptable noise, pollution, and traffic

congestion is absolutely horrific to this residential community.

I am told that there is also a real possibility of accident

liability that could easily involve the city in some sort of legal

tangle.

We urge the City Council and Planning Commission to oppose any

further expansion of the St. Andrew’s project and encourage the

applicants to move to an appropriately zoned area

BILL and PAMELA DAVIES

Newport Beach