1 - COMBINED PUBLIC COMMENTS_4405 W EDINGER AVENUE

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From:Kelaher, Selena To:Bernal, Sarah Subject:FW: City of Santa Ana Planning Commission and City Council. 9-9-2019 Date:Monday, September 09, 2019 8:22:59 AM Selena Kelaher, AICP City of Santa Ana Planning and Building Agency | M20 20 Civic Center Plaza | Post Office Box 1988 | Santa Ana, CA 92702 skelaher@santa-ana.org | Direct Phone: (714) 667-2740 -----Original Message----- From: Patty Young [mailto:s ] Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2019 7:46 PM To: Kelaher, Selena <skelaher@santa-ana.org> Cc: Karyn Negrete <hangluse2@roadrunner.com>; kristy@micworks.com Subject: City of Santa Ana Planning Commission and City Council. 9-9-2019 City of Santa Ana Planning Commission and City Council. 9-9-2019 RE: Archangel Coptic Orthodox Church located at 4405 West Edinger, SA The proposed Project for new construction under CUP 2019-01 I have lived at , right around the corner from the church for 40 years. I was a resident when your Mr. Charles View made a presentation to our community on June 20, 1988. Presented was a structure of 1100 sq. ft which was to have a main level sanctuary and offices as well as a basement level with a bread kitchen, storage, book store and social hall. CUP88-11 provided there would be no simultaneous use of both levels. At this time this church was operating out of a house on Edinger and never complied with its CUP (see your City Archives for CUP- 11 and CUP-12) At the time we, the neighbors were skeptical. How can they be expected to use only the main level while there is a 7,058 basement level with restrooms and a social hall? How are they going to have a basement with our high water table? Why does it have to be so big and have architecture as like Cairo, Egypt? How does this embrace our community known as "Little Texas" with it's horses and chickens? The City however granted permission to build. How did this 11,000 sq. ft. Building turn into 16,798 sq. ft. You might ask? It grew...before construction was even completed. The addition of another story of offices and mezzanines were added, serviced by an elevator and not part of the original approved plan. (see archived letter from Joseph A. Wollett to Charles View, July 2, 1990) In this letter, the church architect explained the basement was "subdivided by the provision of classrooms" and he explains a second level was "added as it does not affect the outside appearance of the structure" and says it was "dropped into what would have otherwise been high ceiling space." There seems to be a practice of deception since the very start. Two homes were retained in the cul-de-sac behind the church on Regent drive supposedly for use as guest quarters and a residence for the Pastor. But the pastor, if he ever lived there had moved many years ago and for many years people simply parked in the neighborhood and used yard gates to access the church from the back. (see city archive of complaints 1992 and 1994/95) While the church said they would keep the gates locked or not use them, it was not remedied until a solid block wall replaced the gate in 2003. In Sept. 29, 1995 LA Times an article about this church dedicated in 1992 and was awarded a settlement against contractors and suppliers and ordered to pay 1.4 million due to water seepage in their basement. The article quotes "church officials say they will use proceeds from the settlement...to lift the structure so that new waterproofing can be added". Did they use the money for that? It seems they use the basement just fine unless complaining about it furthers their plan to expand. Then it is subject to mold and seepage and not good enough for them to use. Now they say they need to replace the basement with a new building. In 2003 the basement was fine. They proposed it be utilized at the same time as the sanctuary above with the addition of 150 seats. Now they want to build a " Community Service Building" 2 stories and 9,928 sq. ft, same Egyptian type architecture and again in excess of the Citys maximum height of 27 feet. They are calling the classrooms "educational rooms", more offices, a multipurpose room etc... And not to be used at the same time as the main sanctuary. They are also