Hesperia Planning Commission approves 4,995-square-foot church on Orchid Avenue, adds three-way stop and turn limits
Commissioners voted 4-0 on Aug. 13, with one recusal, to grant Victor Valley Gospel Church a conditional use permit for a 5-acre site at 11767 Orchid Ave. They attached traffic conditions that were not in the staff recommendation.
The Hesperia Planning Commission voted 4-0 on Aug. 13 to approve a conditional use permit for a new church at 11767 Orchid Ave., adding traffic conditions of its own before the vote.
The applicant is Victor Valley Gospel Church. The permit, CUP26-00007, allows a church building of 4,995 square feet and lets the house already on the property become living quarters for a priest.
Commissioner Hodson V made the motion and Commissioner Auman seconded it, according to the meeting minutes. Commissioner Burke and Chair Roger Abreo also voted yes. Vice Chair Steeno recused herself; the minutes do not give a reason.
Conditions added by the commission
The minutes say the motion added three conditions: a three-way stop at the Pepper Avenue-Orchid Avenue intersection, a ban on left turns entering or leaving the site, and a sight-line study.
The motion also specified that the project must return to the commission if those conditions are changed.
Two comment letters on the item were received before the hearing, the minutes say. Their contents are not described in the records reviewed.
The project
A staff report by Associate Planner Leilani Henry places the site on Orchid Avenue's east side, some 230 feet north of Pepper Avenue, on roughly 5 acres zoned Limited Agriculture. The Mojave River is immediately to the east.
The property now holds a 1,806-square-foot house. Homes border it on the south and west, and a vacant commercially zoned parcel lies to the north, the report says.
The city's development code requires a conditional use permit for a church in any zone, according to the report.
The church building would stand 23.5 feet tall, under the zone's 35-foot limit, and sit toward the back of the lot, roughly 52 feet from the closest home, which is to the south. Plans call for a masonry wall 6 feet high and a landscaped strip 6 feet wide along that shared property line.
The site plan shows 38 parking spaces. The code requires one for every four sanctuary seats, or 32.
Conditions recommended by staff require the church to meet the city's noise and glare standards and to get a temporary special event permit for any outdoor activity.
The applicant would build street improvements to half the road's width on its Orchid Avenue frontage and tie into a 12-inch water line already in Orchid Avenue. The report says the site may use a septic system if it passes percolation testing.
Staff found the project exempt from state environmental review as infill development. The report notes Joshua trees on the site and says the applicant must get any required state Department of Fish and Wildlife authorization before a grading permit is issued. A pre-construction survey for burrowing owls is also required.
At the same meeting, Principal Planner Ryan Leonard announced an additional commission meeting Aug. 27 for a first workshop on a development code update, the minutes say.