Anthem Chapel Plans an Appeal to Goleta City Council

The trouble began after Christ Lutheran Church rented its back lot to Anthem Chapel. It was the COVID years, so Anthem put up a tent for its services, raising the roof with spirited music to bring in the faithful and the curious. The church may have increased attendance with this strategy, but it raised the hackles of nearby residents who still remember the amplified racket that the church leaders refused to tame.

It all came to a head at Goleta’s Planning Commission on June 22. Anthem plans to buy 2.5 acres of the 3.3-acre lot at 6596 Covington Way and build a new church totaling 20,000 square feet. Proponents spoke of Anthem’s good works, while opponents described issues of traffic, parking, safety, and monarch butterfly habitat. The commissioners approved the lot split but voted 2-1 against the conditional use permit (CUP) needed to raise a new church. Anthem said it would appeal to City Council.

Anthem has rented the undeveloped lot from Christ Lutheran since 2018 and entered into a lease-to-buy arrangement in 2023. Its sole Sunday service is currently held at Goleta Valley Junior High School’s auditorium, with larger holiday services at Dos Pueblos High’s performing arts center.

At issue is a scrap of land on one corner of the 140-acre Los Carneros Lake open space. Bordering North Los Carneros Road, the undeveloped plot has long served as a free overflow parking lot for popular events held at Stow House, the railroad museum, and Lake Los Carneros Park. The stands of trees between the lot and the Historical Society’s ranch display have sheltered monarch butterflies, too, though none or few in recent years, as across the West.

Parking and traffic problems were bound to result, residents said, from a full church parking lot if Stow House were hosting an equally crowded event: Vehicles would park in the neighborhood as they had during the church’s tent days, across driveways, on corners, and in front of fire hydrants. Resident Kerri Maxwell told the Independent a driver had flipped her off for protesting and then walked off to church.

North Los Carneros Road has a single lane, and a painted bike lane, in each direction. That many cars on a road without turn lanes seems unsafe, residents said. And the bike lanes are used by students going to Dos Pueblos and the junior high, they reminded.

Chris Jerde, a professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, told the commissioners a full environmental study was needed. The landscape plan eliminated the mature trees used by monarch butterflies, who prefer dark, quiet bowers sheltered from the wind. The proposed plantings would attract birds that are butterfly predators, and the increased light at night and noise were known to affect butterflies, he said, advising that the “cascading effects of habitat degradation” across Goleta’s monarch overwintering sites should be studied.

Those opposed to the project weren’t there for want of trying. A group had met with church leaders to negotiate the issues emanating from the tent, said Terry Hurt, who lives roughly across the street. He characterized the in-person and email exchanges as “rude.” Though church volunteers regulated parking, it was just for a couple of weeks, and the amplified music continued. “We had to call the sheriff to ask them to turn it down,” said Maxwell. “The very next day, they played ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen. I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

Despite the on-the-scene observations, studies by both the project team and the city found the church’s proposed activities would not stress existing conditions. The parking lot of 117 spaces was 15 percent more than required by the vehicle-miles-traveled study, which could only measure employee travel on weekdays, city staff said. County Fire found no need for special considerations for evacuation. The reduced butterfly buffer — to 50 feet from the city code’s 100 feet — was sanctioned in the biology reviews.

Nonetheless, Anthem’s lead pastor, Nate Wagner, apologized sincerely to his neighbors “for the frustrations I have caused” as he spoke before the Planning Commission. A permanent location would allow Anthem to be a better neighbor, he said, mitigate the challenges the temporary outdoor operation had had, and allow the church to organize a preschool and daycare to serve the area.

Planner Steve Welton of Suzanne Elledge Planning and Permitting Services outlined the changes the church had made over the three previous Design Review Board hearings: reduce the building size by 2,000 square feet, lower the height by five feet, revise the design to decrease the mass by splitting the building in two, hold services entirely indoors. Taking the design board’s comments that the sanctuary lacked an inspiring feel, the architect looked to Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame du Haut in adding varied windows to the western wall.

About eight church members spoke in favor of the project and of the benefits of the church and its outreach to young people, families, and the community. A former member with less positive things to say also spoke, Will Breman, a musician who has opened for the likes of Willie Nelson and Neil Young. He said he was a worship leader at Anthem from 2018 to 2020, when the lack of masks, close quarters under the tent, and a COVID outbreak caused him to leave. He told the commissioners that he’d “never seen a church act with such contempt toward neighbors.” He quoted Pastor Wagner in a 2023 sermon: “We understand what it feels like to be accused and charged, but we have to remember that the ultimate force behind these concerns is Satan.”

In a recent conversation with the Independent, Wagner said he didn’t recall “ever saying that phrase” and that such language was not normal in his church preaching. The kids ministry had made “I’m sorry” cards for the neighbors, he said, and Anthem had given out gift cards in apology as well. His congregation was about 300 people now, and the ask for three services was in anticipation of growth: “When you apply for a CUP, you kind of have to go big. We don’t have three services now, but we’d like the opportunity to have three services.”

To those who thought Anthem should seek a different location, he said, “I looked for other places. I would love to be in a warehouse, that would be cool, but those are in business parks. Goleta doesn’t allow a church in BP zoning.” And, the building could have been positioned along Los Carneros, but they chose to move it across the lot and surround it with trees. “That’s the reason it’s close to the buffer,” Wagner explained.

Goleta has five planning commissioners, but one was absent and another who lives in the neighborhood was recused. The three planning commissioners present struggled with all the issues. Katie Maynard observed that all the studies pointed toward approval. Still, she and Anne Miller were dismayed that the parking and traffic study hadn’t looked at the busiest day for the church and the park: Sunday. For Rita Serotkin, it was the large size of the buildings: a 14,000 square foot footprint that pushed the plantings toward the butterfly habitat.

Now that the commissioners have voted down the CUP, the next step is for staff to write findings of denial for the Planning Commission’s next hearing on the project. Wagner was leaving the door open to further modifications, saying to the Independent, “I’m not going to be bull-headed about this. I want to listen, to adapt to any need to make changes.”