Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Neighbors argue against parsonage at First Baptist

By Clarence Cromwell

If the First Baptist Church wants a parsonage for its pastor, the Rev. Roger McCarty, it has to first placate neighbors who complained that the church isn't following its conditional-use permit, Monte Sereno City Council members said Feb. 4.

The council unanimously refused to allow the construction of a 2,388-square-foot house on the church property and asked First Baptist to investigate the costs of converting its office building to a pastoral home. But before they look at any plan, council members want the church to become a better neighbor by meeting current restrictions to keep children out of a buffer zone near neighbors' fences and to keep noise down.

"Don't even come back to us until that matter is laid to rest," Councilmember Dorothea Bamford instructed the church.

Neighbors complained that the playground infringes on the 40-foot buffer area along neighbors' fences, that noise-reducing landscaping promised by the church in 1993 was never completed and that noise from diesel buses and other activities bothers neighbors.

Dick Gossen said the church facility has been continually growing for years, most recently increasing the size of its auditorium four years ago. He asked the council not to compromise the neighbors' tranquility a tiny increment at a time.

"Where do we stop it?" Gossen asked.

In addition to the handful of speakers against church expansion, 16 residents sent letters opposing the pastoral home.

One neighbor supported the church.

Lilian Harman said the day-care center at the church is needed in Monte Sereno, and she enjoys the sound of kids playing in the churchyard. "I think it's the greatest sound to hear," Harman said.

McCarty, the pastor, said putting his residence at the church would improve security in the area. He'd also like to live in the community he serves, he said.

Mayor Jack Lucas asked the church to come back with hard figures on the cost of moving the pastor into the church's office building. Church members insist the renovation would be costly and would leave them without sufficient office space.

It was the church's second appearance before the council. On Dec. 17, church spokesperson Beth Jendricks agreed to return to the council with plans for renovating the existing office building, as the council requested. But when church members returned last week, they presented plans for a scaled-down pastoral residence.