New Harbor Church Hears Planning Commission's Suggestions

The Benicia Planning Commission held a special meeting and workshop on Thursday night to discuss potential changes to a proposal that will place 20,000-plus sq. foot church at the end of Blake Court.

New Harbor Community Church wants to build a two-story, 25-acre facility on the short court that leads to Rose Drive. Blake Court is less than 200 feet long but Rose Drive stretches for miles.

Harvey Goldstein, an Administration Pastor with the church, said he was happy with the discussion Tuesday night.

“It all sounded fair and open and it looks like we just need to work things out,” he said. “The church is definitely ready to work things out and to move forward. It sounds like the city wants to do the same. The residents have legal, legitimate concerns. We want to try and address those.”

The church wanted to get input from the commission and the public on what they should do with the design because their application for building the facility is still being processed. Designs and diagrams showing how the project can be condensed were shown during a PowerPoint presentation.

The public comment session of the meeting got fiery. Despite being limited by the commission because the meeting held was a workshop and not a regularly scheduled session, many Rose Drive residents said the church shouldn’t be placed there.

One resident said she collected a petition with over 400 signatures opposing the construction of the church. Another suggested that the windows should be opaque to reduce glare. One said that property owners should be reimbursed for property value loss. A few mentioned the fact that Rose Drive is known for drivers speeding down it and that drivers leaving the court makes the intersection an extreme hazard. 

Goldstein thinks if the church is ever constructed, neighbors will adjust to it with time.

“We’re really all about people,” he said. “We’re not the enemy. We really want to do good for people and their families and stuff. That’s what we do. It’s really all about building relationships and finding out that we’re really good for them.”

Planning Commissioner Rick Ernst was worried about the church being placed in a “fire truck turnaround.” The church would sit at the base of a hill that used to be a landfill.

“I am dumbfounded they picked that site for a religious institution,” he said during the meeting.

The church was given the location by the Benicia City Council in 2001. It wasn’t clear why the church was given the property 11 years ago. 

Editor’s note: The preview story for yesterday’s meeting ran a headline which said the Planning Commission would decide the New Harbor Community Church’s future on Blake Court. They did not. The meeting was intended to discuss potential changes to church’s original design plan. Patch apologizes for the error.

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