Decibels, Disciples: Church Neighbors Getting an Earful

The Bible calls on the faithful to “sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.”

Christ Our Redeemer AME Church of Costa Mesa responds every Sunday. Congregants sing, clap, shout and prove that the piano really is a percussion instrument during two-hour services.

Members call it religious expression.

Neighbors call it noise.

With the gospel program and an equally loud Pentecostal congregation that uses the hall in the afternoon, the tiny pink church has pitted the right to religious expression against the right to peace and quiet for neighbors living in apartment units next door.

Reacting to complaints from the complex, city planning commissioners two weeks ago issued regulations for the church that require worshipers to close doors during services, minimize amplified music and preaching and forbid gathering in the parking lot.

The United Pentecostal Church of Costa Mesa reluctantly intends to comply. But the African Methodist Episcopal Church plans to continue what it says are 200-year-old worship traditions.

“I don’t plan to change one thing,” said Pastor Edgar A. Jones. “I don’t think that we’re that loud. Just like other people, we have a right to praise the Lord.”

Jones said the requirements have made some of the 30-member congregation feel restrained in a place they should feel relaxed. He says he’ll continue to leave the doors open, use microphones, shout, sing and let members congregate in the parking lot.

“Freedom of religion and freedom of expression--these things were tampered with when the decision was made,” Jones said. “I know my neighbors have rights, and I understand, but if you move next to LAX can you not expect reasonable sounds from the airplanes?”

Residents who live in units less than 10 feet away did not agree with the comparison.

“They can worship somewhere else if they don’t like what the city . . . has to say,” said Lee Ann Douglas, supporting the new city requirements.

Douglas said she wakes up Sunday mornings to slamming car doors, people talking beneath her window and amplified voices.

“I’ve been going through this for the last four, five years,” she said. “I am really angry.”

Planning Commissioner Linda Dixon called three churches in one place “an overuse of the property,” saying that the city issued a permit to Seventh-day Adventists four years ago and did not expect them to rent out the site.

The Pentecostal and AME churches, she said, were not permitted on the site’s conditional-use permit, but the Planning Commission last month agreed to accommodate them if they would work with the neighbors.

“That’s why we have a Planning Commission,” Dixon said. “The original consideration for that church was that it not be detrimental to surrounding properties.”

Dixon said she hopes the regulations, which she views as a compromise, will resolve the problem.

“I feel that if people want to sing, if that’s what they want to do, and at the top of their lungs, they ‘Hallelujah!,’ that’s perfectly fine to me,” Dixon said. “But I do believe that every man’s home is his castle, and you have to be respectful of other people.”

The city will investigate future complaints, Mayor Peter Buffa said in a letter sent to Jones on Friday. A permit for the site is probationary for six months and must receive final approval from the commission in November.

“Please let me assure you that your conditional-use permit will not be jeopardized by frivolous, unfounded or unverified complaints,” Buffa wrote. “Any noise disturbance or other complaints received by our office will be personally verified.”

While members of the Pentecostal church say they shout and sing and play drums, they do not want the AME church to take the blame.

“They asked us to tone everything down. They’ve asked us not to use keyboards,” Pastor Jeff Morgan said of the city. “They say sound cannot leave the premises or even the property line. That’s impossible. We feel it’s totally unfair, though we are complying the best we can.”

Morgan said for the last three Sundays he’s gone from two speakers to one, keeps the doors shut and informed his congregation of the new rules.

Douglas, the next-door neighbor, says there is little difference.

“I can hear them right now,” she said Sunday. “I’m going to call the police.”

Costa Mesa police officials said officers were called to the church Sunday because of noise. Police said they asked parishioners to turn down the music, and they complied.