Church developing noble goals

EDWARD B. LOYD

In 1992, I transferred my U.S. home from New Jersey here for the

purpose of establishing my new United States residence. At that time,

I had been abroad for 20 years and planned to move back with my

family.

One of the first places we visited in Newport Beach was St.

Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The welcome that both my family and I

received made it very clear that this is the community in which we

wished to live. In 1997, we moved back to the United States. Our

second indication that we made the right decision was Harbor View

Elementary School, where we enrolled our two children. Once again, we

were met with warmth and the general feeling that we were very

welcome in the community.

This community has given us so much that I felt I needed to give

something back, and that was when I ran for the school board of

Newport-Mesa in 2002. Almost 7,000 voters here in the district agreed

with my platform and voted for me. Additionally, I am a member of the

Kiwanis Club and a board member of the YMCA. Being a deacon at St.

Andrew’s, I serve on the Congregational Care Committee as well as

being an usher. I am trying to show the depth of my commitment to

this community, and I do intend to seek public office. I am fortunate

enough to serve the commu-

nity, and I hope and pray that I will be able to make the right

decision in most instances, as I know you do.

Speaking for myself and what I know about my fellow parishioners,

truly we wish to be good neighbors. To that end, we were trying to

address some of the issues, which were brought up at several of the

church meetings.

1. Parking. The neighbors seem to have a tremendous number of

complaints about Sunday morning, particularly with the parishioners,

their parking and the noise that is created together with the need to

sometimes park near a neighbor’s driveway. But at no time would they

deliberately block someone’s driveway. To show their community

spirit, the parishioners decided to open up the church’s parking lot

for the students over at Harbor High. Given the parking restrictions

during the week, such as being allowed to park on the street for up

to only two hours at a time, this created a greater hazard for the

neighborhood and the children because students would need to leave

and find other places to park.

The elders decided to build a parking facility for the board of

education, which would relieve this parking hazard. Additionally, it

would provide another structure for us to use during our Sunday

services. This represented absolutely no cost to the school district

and provides safety for the neighborhood. But because some of the

neighbors raised an objection, the school board decided against this

plan. Consequently, we retreated to our property in trying to

maintain everything on the present footprint of the campus. We did

this with the plan of constructing the parking facility underground

on our property. Keep in mind, once again, that we are trying to be a

good neighbor and make a facility that would relieve any parking

problem, both for us and the neighborhood.

2. Some of the neighbors complained about noise that would

sometimes occur on a Wednesday night during the youth program, which

St. Andrew’s sponsors. As everyone knows, there are not enough

facilities around for the young people of Newport Beach to

congregate. Given our splendid youth program, this had proven to be

successful. Young people from junior high all the way up though

college participate in this program. In our planning application, we

decided to relocate this youth center within the structure in order

to avoid any of the loud noise, which the community seems to be

complaining about. We feel strongly that we want to do everything we

possibly can to work with and help the community and not have any

type of adversarial confrontations erupt.

3. The perception being projected by the neighbors is that we are

expanding beyond our present footprint. This is not the case. Any

construction contemplated lies purely within the present property

lines. We, as a church, need to make certain changes to accommodate

our parishioners. At the same time, we do take into consideration the

community. We have been on this property for a very long time, in

most instances longer than any of the neighbors. We would welcome any

constructive input to the project that would enable us to accomplish

what we feel is necessary while keeping a peaceful relationship with

the community.

As an elected official, when you have two opposing sides,

sometimes tough decisions need to be made. But in this instance, I

know for a fact that St. Andrew’s has done everything that is

required. I am certain that after its completion, the neighbors will

clearly see that we have addressed our own needs as well as theirs.