LOS ALAMITOS : Owners Cancel OK on Crash Zone Check

The owners of property next to a military runway’s crash zone have withdrawn their consent to have a county agency investigate whether it would be safe to allow a church to move to the site.

The City Council had referred the matter to the County Airport Land Use Commission earlier this month, with a request that the commission evaluate the safety of putting a potentially large group of people--members of Grace Church--on the property.

The site falls just outside of the Armed Forces Reserve Center’s crash zone, an area 1,500 feet on each side of an airfield runway’s center line that is considered the most dangerous.

Although representatives from Los Caballeros Center, which owns the property, had previously agreed to let the county commission look at the plan, the approval was withdrawn two days before the commission was scheduled to take up the matter on March 15.

The City Council has yet to decide whether to grant Grace Church a conditional use permit, which is required for the land purchase because the site is zoned for light industrial business use.

The 900-member Grace Church wants to convert two vacant industrial buildings at the southern tip of the property on Winners Circle into a sanctuary, fellowship hall and classrooms.