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Home My WebLink AboutCUP 85B; Pilgrim Congregational Church; Conditional Use Permit (CUP) (38). -. PILGRIM UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST An Open, Affirming and Inclusive Congregation with a Liberal 7Reology and a Commitment to Social Justice WILMA OWENS MODERATOR DANA WHITSON VICE-MODERATOR JERALD STINSON PASTOR GORDON BAKER PASTOR EMERITUS PAT ALLEN CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR KAY GAULT DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN'S MINISTRIES JILL THURLOW DIRECTOR OF YOUTH MINISTRIES 8 FACILITIES COORDINATOR TOM LAURENCE CHOIR DIRECTOR ANN ALLEN DIRECTOR OF PILGRIM CHILDREN'S CENTER June 13,1997 Robert Neilsen, Planning Commission City of Carlsbad 2075 Las Palmas Drive Carlsbad, CA 92009 Dear Mr. Neilsen: As you are no doubt aware, on July 2nd, the Planning Commission will consider the renewal of Pilgrim United Church of Christ's Condi- tional Use Permit. We have been informed by Anne Hysong of the Planning Department that she will be recommending to the Commission that we be forced to build a concrete wall to sepa- rate our Children's Center from the property of one of our neigh- bors, Mr. Dwight Vallely. Let me share some background information on this issue with you. 1- Has Mr. Vallelv complained about the noise over a lonq period of time? No! He has lived in his house on Charleen Circle for many years, but in fact the first conversation I ever had with him about any possible noise problem came last Fall, AFTER HE HAD ALREADY GONE TO CITY HALL TO INQUIRE ABOUT MAKING A COMPLAINT. 2- What happened when Mr. Vallelv first complained to Pilqrim Church about the noise? We immediately arranged for a meeting with him on September 12, 1996. We took his com- plaint very seriously and had present from the church at that meeting: Four church officers: Our Church Moderator/President (an adminis- trator at Palomar College) Our Vice-Moderator (Assistant City Manager for Oceanside) The Chairperson of our Board of Trustees (Carlsbad Assistant City Engineer) Our Trustees Liaison to the Children's Center (a social worker) Three staff mem bers: Our Minister Our Facilities Coordinator The Director of our Children's Center 2020 Chestnut Avenue, Carlsbad, California 92008 Phone: (760)729-6311 Fax: (760)729-1562 Taped Message: (760)729-9540 Children's Center: (760)729-4464 E-Mail: pilgrimucc@aol.com Internet Web Site: http://members.aol.cm/pilgnmucc PILGRIM UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 6/13/97 - Page 3 had been noisy. We asked him to specifically call the church’s Facilities Coordinator. If it was after hours, he was asked to leave a message on her voice-mail. Then she would immediately begin to track down who was responsible for the noise and find ways of preventing such noise in the future. We asked Mr. Vallely not to try to contact the indi- viduals making the noise but rather to let our Facilities Coordinator deal with the prob- lem. He agreed to this. BUT HE HAS NOT ONCE CALLED US SINCE THAT MEETING ON SEP- TEMBER 12th! Thus we assumed that our efforts to cut back on noise had been success- ful and that everything was going well. 5- What about additional contact with Mr. Vallelv? There was no contact whatsoever between September 12,1996 and January 6,1997. During that time, he made no men- tion of any more noise. Then on January 6th Mr. Vallely wrote to me expressing his ap- preciation for the September 12th meeting and his appreciation of our “receptiveness” to his concerns. He asked if another meeting could be scheduled “so that we might bring this issue to a close.” I arranged for such a meeting to be held on February 6th and Mr. Vallely said that date would work for him. Then he called the church office and left a message that that date was no longer a good one for him and that he would let us know about rescheduling the meeting. What we later learned was that he had al- ready gone again to the city to complain, indicating that we weren’t cooperating with him in seeking to hear his concerns. Once I learned from the Planning Department that he had indeed been back in touch with them, I again wrote to Mr. Vallely on March 19th expressing my surprise about his attitude (since he had previously written to us thanking us for our receptiveness to his concerns) and indicating to him that our officers would be glad to meet with him at any time to talk about his concerns. He never responded to that letter. I am personally convinced that Mr. Vallely had only one objective from the beginning and that was to force the church into building a wall alongside his property. That was all that really mattered to him from the beginning and he did not want to meet with us again. 6- What specifically is the noise that bothers Mr. Vallelv? He said that sometimes it is the noise that the children make during the daytime. He said that sometimes it is noise that comes from workers cleaning the building in the evening. He said that the adult groups which use that building in the evenings (such as Narcotics Anonymous) have not made any noise and have not caused any problems. He said that there is some noise from the semi-yearly social events of the Samoan-language congregation that meets at Pilgrim Church but that noise does not bother him; he indicated in fact that he enjoyed their music. 7- Why does the church resist buildina a wall? In the first place, we don’t think it will make much difference for the Vallelys. When they remodeled their home, they chose to put their building addition within a few feet of the Children’s Center building. They put their bedroom on the second floor right next to the Children’s Center. A block wall fence will .. a- - PILGRIM UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 6/15/97 - Page 5 he knew that he would hear the sounds of children from that Center. And not only did he know that, but his own daughter was a student at the Children’s Center and as a parent, he was active and supportive of the Center during that time. Unfortunately Mr. Vallely’s wife has a medical condition which makes it difficult for her to sleep. I imagine that living near any school would be a problem for her. But then they chose to remodel their home and move their living space even closer to the Children’s Center. It was inevitable that they would therefore hear more noise. I would urge the Planning Commission, in considering our Conditional Use Permit, to look at Pilgrim Church’s long record of community service. We run a homeless shelter program. We are the site for the federal food commodity program each month. We have a unique child visitation program that we run in conjunction with Child Protective Services. We have a liter- acy center that for two decades has taught English as a second language. We are the home for several 1 2-step groups: Alcoholics Anonymous, AI Anon, Narcotics Anonymous, and NarA- non. Being Alive, an AIDS organization is headquartered at our Church. And Pilgrim Children’s Center is a vital part of this community service that we provide. Please don’t force us to punish our low-income parents, or close our Center, because of one irate neighbor whose remodeling project caused him to want us to build a wall to separate his property from our Children’s Center. That’s just not fair. We urge you to approve our CUP as it is, and allow us to continue serving the families of Carlsbad and their children. Sincerely, Rev. Jerald M. Stinson