4S Chinese Bible Church of San Diego school project continues to generate controversy...
For more backgrund and coverage visit '4S Ranch haters of proposed Chinese Bible Church of San Diego school project sound off.' San Dieguito Planning Group chairman Paul Marks, has said the issue will be taken up before the official county planning advisory group sometime this summer.
Chinese Bible Church of San Diego held two meetings to educate the community about its plans and incorporate locals’ thoughts into the final design. The May 18 meeting at 4S Ranch Library attracted more than 100, while one on May 22 at the church’s main campus in Carmel Mountain Ranch had around 75 present, said Ron Harper Jr., church spokesman.
Harper said the meetings’ main goal was “to listen to the community. We had stations that dealt with traffic, architecture, landscaping and engineering that allowed (attendees) to talk with the experts, church members and leaders.”
He said comments received from community members were helpful — especially those on Sunday when “there was much more talking about solutions and adapting the project to be more community friendly.”
Last Wednesday’s gathering, he said, “was a lot more heated because the opposition wanted to make a presentation and there were stronger emotions.”
Opponents present on Wednesday included Stephen Jones, 4S Santa Fe Valley Mega-Project Abatement Coalition spokesman.
Since forming in January, Jones said the coalition has gathered more than 2,000 signatures by residents surrounding the 8-plus acre site at 16919 Four Gee Road in Santa Fe Valley, just west of 4S Ranch.
Jones said he was dissatisfied because the workshop did not fulfill the church’s stated goals of providing information to residents and listening to their concerns. Reasons, he said, included the format and fact that the 4S Ranch Library room was too small to accommodate the crowd that included residents, church members, experts and church leaders.
“There was no brainstorming or give and take of ideas of any kind,” Jones wrote in a May 20 letter to Senior Pastor Albert Lam. “We were disappointed that many of our questions were being avoided or deferred to someone who was not present.”
