Church Buys Perfect Park
The St. Athanasius Church purchased their current church building
at 976 Embarcadero del Mar about 1980. Shortly before this,
the I.V. Park District had attempted to purchase the site in
order to establish a community center, but gave up because of
the high asking price ($145,000 when it was only assessed at
$90,000). Instead, the District purchased the Little Acorn Nursery
property across the street for $165,000. The larger Little Acorn
Park had a water meter and could be built on, a major positive
during the 15-year moritorium on new water hook-ups (see Chapter
9). Plans to develop a community center on the Little Acorn
property were put on hold when a 1980 advisory election indicated
54%-46% that the town would prefer that a community center be
established without constructing a new building.
In 1984, the church purchased the large vacant property at the
top of the Embarcadero loop adjacent to their church building.
Widely
known as Perfect Park, this property was the site of hundreds
of concerts and community events during the late 1960s and early
1970s. It was also the site of arrests and beatings by police
on June 10, 1970, near the end of the civil disturbances of
that period (see Chapter 2). Because of its historical significance,
the Park District also attempted to purchase this property,
but the owners turned down an offer in the neighborhood of $350,000.
In rejecting the offer, the owner, a physician from Santa Monica,
said that he didn't want to sellhis property to the community
because Isla Vistans kept voting to continue the water hook-up
moratorium, which had prevented him from developing his property.
A church member told a reporter for the Isla Vista Free Press
in 1987 that the church had paid considerably less than $350,000
for the property and if they could get a water permit, they
would like to build a new temple at the Perfect Park site. Further,
he said they would like to construct "a two story building
which we could sell off as an office site if we had to."
New EOC Temple?
In November 1987, the voters of Isla Vista and Goleta approved
Measure T, an amendment to the moratorium on new hook-ups that
had existed since 1972. Measure T set aside enough water to
build 250 homes, some water for park irrigation and some for
non-profit organizations such as churches. With two of its members
sitting on the Goleta Water Board, St. Athanasius got its water
permit.
In addition, the church then asked and received from the Goleta
Water Board a 10-year limitation on the building having to be
a church, fueling speculation that they did indeed have plans
to sell off the new building sometime in the future.
When
plans for a new two-story, 19,000 square-foot building on Perfect
Park were submitted to the County in early 1988, a major outcry
from the community was heard in Isla Vista. The Isla Vista Park
Board invited the church to consider a trade for other properties
the District owned on which to build their new temple. The church
initially seemed interested in the Del Sol Vernal Pool Preserve,
an 11-acre parcel along Camino Corto Road and El Colegio Road.
Because of the vernal pools on the property, and because of
a substantial grant received by the Park District from the State
Coastal Conservancy to preserve the vernal pools, it was considered
unlikely that such a trade could be pulled off.
The Park Board was more interested in trading a large parcel
along Estero Road at Camino Corto and on several occasions asked
the church to consider this trade. However, the church declined
to participate in any negotiations. They later said that they
hadn't considered such talk seriously because they had never
received a written offer from the Park District.
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