Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Los Gatos Christian Church wants to expand its facilities

By Anne Gelhaus

Twelve years has cooled the ire of most Los Gatos Christian Church neighbors, but some still have the same objections to the church's current expansion plans as they did to its 1984 proposal.

When the church originally applied to the town to build a new gym, Sunday school building and office building on its 27-acre campus off Hicks Road, neighbors objected on the basis that the church--then about 5,000 members strong--already had created traffic problems along Hicks Road. The two-lane rural road can't be widened because of a creek that hugs it for several miles.

"There certainly was organized opposition," said Dale Evans, a consultant hired by the church to present the new expansion plans to both neighbors and town staff. "A group of neighbors on Burke Road [off Hicks Road] complained bitterly about the traffic. It created a lot of animosity between the church and the neighbors."

In the ensuing 12 years, Evans said, the church made numerous improvements to mitigate the traffic impact in the neighborhood, installing a signal light at Camden Avenue and Hicks Road, blocking the church's access to Burke Road and reconfiguring driveways leading to Hicks Road. During this time, church membership fell to about 1,500 people.

Evans said the church is hopeful that these decreases in membership and traffic flow will make its current expansion plans more palatable to both the town and the neighbors. The new plans call for a 17,500-square-foot multi-purpose building that would include a gym, portable classrooms and outdoor bleachers with 200 seats.

Despite the church's efforts, Burke Road resident Michael Burke said he still objects to any expansion there.

"Traffic's not as bad as it used to be," Burke said, "but if they want to expand the facility, there's no guarantee that its use will stay down."

Church officials are saying that the expansion is necessary if they want to accommodate the students who are on a waiting list to get into the church's K-8 school. Enrollment there is 540, the maximum allowed under the church's use permit. The church is hoping to win approval to increase its school's student body to 770.

Prior to presenting the church's plan to the Development Review Committee last month, Evans surveyed about 35 neighbors to get their input.

"Everyone was pretty amenable," Evans said. "Several expressed concerns about traffic. Most were more concerned about Challenger School."

Challenger, a private school, has also contacted town staff about building a 500-student campus next to the church, but Town Manager David Knapp said the school hasn't made a formal application.

Burke said he would oppose any plans presented by Challenger.

"It's a drive-through school," he added. "In the morning, parents line the street to drop off their kids, and they line the streets again in the afternoon to pick them up. It's not a neighborhood school."

Even though he opposes its expansion, Burke said relations between the church and its neighbors have improved in the years since the Rev. Marvin Rickard, who was highly visible and active in the emerging religious right, confessed marital infidelity to the congregation and left the church.

"Since the church has changed administrations," Burke said, "they have a totally different hierarchy. I think they're a little less pushy; I think that, 10 years ago, the church's whole goal was growth. The new administration seems more friendly and much more receptive to neighbors' concerns."