Looking for Realtor Rove

STEVE SMITH

I wish I could take credit for whipping up a few readers into a

frenzy over the proposed expansion of St. Andrew’s Church in Newport

Beach, but the truth is that I never wrote about St. Andrew’s. Last

Saturday, I wrote about the coming rise in redevelopment all over

Newport and Costa Mesa.

The mentions of the church were only examples of what will happen

if these squabbles are not handled properly.

To recap, St. Andrew’s is located in a very nice residential

district and across the street from Newport Harbor High School. The

church leaders want to expand, but many of the residents believe the

addition will have a severe negative effect on their lives.

And there you go. Ultimately, this mess will be sorted out and

things will return to normal. In the meantime, it’s interesting to

sit back and watch the reactions.

One e-mail, for example, gave me some grief for not having my

facts straight. The expansion is 21,000 square feet, I was told, not

35,000 square feet. I’m exacerbating the problem I was told.

In the note, I reminded the writer that the column was not about

St. Andrew’s but about the shortage of land on which to build or

expand. Whether the church wants to expand but 21,000, 35,000 or 50,000 square feet is secondary to that fact.

Privately, I told someone that all of this may have been avoided

had the church put on a marketing hat prior to the announcement of

their plans. As with any effort in which one has to capture the

hearts and minds of decision makers, there seems to have been a

failure by the church to answer the question that was on the minds of

so many residents. That is, “What’s in it for me?”

The expansion plan that was presented offered only the perception

of more crowds, more cars and more noise in an otherwise very quiet,

very stable neighborhood -- the type of neighborhood where property

values rule.

For the expansion to work, here’s what a seasoned marketing expert

may have recommended. Think of a Karl Rove for local real estate.

First the church announces that they are busting out of their

current location: “Gee, it’s wonderful that we have all these

worshipers, but it sure is tough to manage them all on this

itty-bitty piece of land we have.”

That announcement is made publicly but no action is taken or

recommended.

A few weeks later, word gets out (OK, it’s leaked) that the church

needs to move to a larger location. The plan being whispered about is

to have the City Council rezone the property for a strip mall that

would serve the needs of both the school and the local residents.

Think here of a convenience store, a dry cleaners, a bagel shop

and more, all within convenient walking distance of many homes.

At that point, you sit and watch the reactions roll in. As you can

imagine, such a proposal would have been about as acceptable as

allowing a homeless shelter on the property.

This is followed by the residents saying something such as, “A

strip mall? Anything is better than that!”

Then the church comes back and says, “OK, we’ll stay. But we need

an additional 21,000 square feet if you want us to remain.”

“Anything! Whatever you want -- just don’t put a strip mall in

there!”

But that’s not what happened. Instead the church went through

proper channels, opened the whole thing up for discussion, and that’s

when it began to fall apart.

Of course, the church did not really have a choice but to approach

the expansion the way they did. Still, I can’t help but wonder what

Karl Rove would have done.

There’s still time for the next church or other operation to learn

from the recent mistakes on 15th Street. For example, two good

parcels are up for grabs in Costa Mesa. One is in front of the

Fairview Development Center, and the other is the former location of

Kona Lanes, Ice Chalet and an Edwards Cinema.

And as I wrote, there’s more to come.

But in the meantime, now that I think about it, a pizza joint

across from the high school would be a nice fit.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to onthetown2005 @aol.com.