The Desert Sun, CA
March 14 2009

Board votes in favor of church’s design

Colin Atagi ¢ The Desert Sun ¢ March 14, 2009

An Armenian church project will go before the Rancho Mirage City
Council as early as next month with a recommendation it be built at a
height church officials fought for all year.

The Rancho Mirage Planning Commission voted 3-1 Thursday to recommend
the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Desert on Vista Dunes Road be
built with a maximum height of 57 feet.

City staff previously recommended a maximum height of 45 feet to
conform to the nearby neighborhood, but commissioners thought
differently.

`Anything further would destroy the lines of the traditional church
that the Armenians normally build,’ Commissioner Ira Laufer said
Friday. `I felt they should have the normal proportions (an Armenian
church) usually does.’

Church officials and parishioners were happy the commission voted in
their favor.

`We had struggles, of course, along the way, but I think they finally
did see it through our eyes,’ parishioner Mary Mkrtchian of Cathedral
City said.

The project has been a work in progress for 10 years.

City officials approved the church plans in 1999, and additional
modifications were approved in 2001.

`We’d already begun construction on that approval,’ said Carolon
Nigosian, parish council chairwoman. `There’s already a foundation in
the ground based on that particular structure.’

Even so, a building permit expired in April 2005, and church officials
had to again go through the process to obtain a conditional use
permit.

The city’s Architectural Review Board recommended this past April that
planning commissioners discuss the project, but church officials
pulled the item from a July meeting after learning of new
recommendations, including the new height limit.

About 50 people currently worship in a 500-square-foot room at the
parish hall on a regular basis, and even more show up on holidays,
church officials said.

If the church is built, it will have enough pews to accommodate 170
people.

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