Earth-friendly church puts down roots

Construction has begun on an eco-friendly church adjacent to Newport Beach’s Big Canyon.

The church held an official ground-breaking ceremony April 23, and crews have begun grading the future site of St. Mark Presbyterian Church’s new sanctuary on San Joaquin Hills Road near MacArthur Boulevard. The church is the first of its kind to be sponsored by Audubon International, a group similar to the Audubon Society that encourages tree planting at new developments.

Church officials plan to plant 530 trees on the site once slated to be an offramp for a ill-fated freeway proposed to run down MacArthur Boulevard. The congregation will also plant several native-vegetation gardens and will install low-flow appliances and energy efficient climate control ? all in an attempt to practice the congregation’s eco-friendly creed.

“Our church is interested in caring for creation and stewardship of the earth,” Pastor Gary Collins said. “Theologically, it’s a central theme for us. We want to determine how we can make the least impact on the earth.”

One of the highlights of new church facility will be its water drainage facility, which filters out sewage and waste water and recycles portions for use in irrigation. There’s even flow control to regulate how much water returns to the nearby Big Canyon stream.

“We won’t affect the flow of water any more than what is currently coming off the land,” landscape architect Rik Katzmaier said.

St. Mark officials negotiated the $11-million project for eight years, earning unanimous approval from Newport’s City Council in October 2004.

“We literally met with every citizens environmental group in the region to present the plan and go over any issues,” Katzmaier said.

Construction is expected to finish sometime in fall 2007. Upon completion, St. Mark’s 400-person congregation will move from its Mar Vista Drive site, owned by Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church, to its new location, previously owned by the Irvine Co. Our Lady Queen of Angels can then expand at the old St. Mark site.