Noyo Bowl will become the first permanent home of 13-year-old Calvary Chapel, after the Fort Bragg Planning Commission unanimously granted a variance to the church.
More than 50 church members gathered at the Wednesday Town Hall meeting last week, with hugs, chat and smiles exchanged as the meeting got started. Finally getting a building to call home after a lengthy escrow and financing process was a joyful moment for church members.
But it was a sad moment for lovers of Noyo Bowl, especially Special Olympics bowlers and their family members, several of whom spoke more than once, pleading with the Commission to find some way to revive the bowling alley, whose innards have been sold off over the past few months.
“You have taken away a real recreational opportunity from the special needs community,” said Judith Gage, who asked her son Anthony to stand as she began to speak.
Planners and staff repeatedly pointed out the meeting could not deal with anything about the former bowling alley but only about saying yes or no to the church”s request.
“We are here to see if this proposal is by the book,” said Planning Commissioner Georgia Lucas, who said the matter had “been very well presented.”
“Of course, we would like to see it be a bowling alley … please don”t think we are heartless or that we are not involved in the sadness of the passing of the bowling alley. But it”s out of our jurisdiction to do anything about it now, probably never was,” Lucas said.
On Dec. 31, 2010, Angelene Leist closed the bowling alley after trying to sell it as a bowling alley for 10 years; the church was the only buyer to emerge for the building. Others couldn”t get financing, Realtor Paul Clark said. Savings Bank of Mendocino County helped make the transaction happen, he said. Clark said Leist couldn”t be at the meeting because of an event at her own church.
Bowling lovers and supporters of the dedicated cadre of Special Olympics bowlers also brought up the fact that Highway 1, the city”s most important commercial zone would be losing a tax-producing property.
“From my perspective too, when entering Fort Bragg from the north, that”s one of the first things you see,” said Carol White. Her son, Kyle White, was one of the special needs individuals that had come to rely on the bowling alley as a centerpiece of their lives.
“I don”t think that”s what we want to project from that vantage point,” Carol White said.
Several others pointed out the move would likely result in a permanent loss of a prime commercial location to Fort Bragg, even if the economy bounces back.
“I think it is not a good place for a church,” said Commissioner Derek Hoyle.
Hoyle gave the nod to the application and noted “Fort Bragg has had churches on Main Street for its entire existence. This is nothing new.”
Although doubtless in a prime commercial location, the windowless boxy building failed to attract other businesses, which even church members called “ugly.” Despite so many members being in the audience, only a few Calvary Chapel members spoke.
Pastor Kevin Green was on hand, but the spokesman for the church was member Burley Cox, who said Calvary chose to oppose only one of the conditions city staff had proposed. Planners required that the church make substantive changes to the parking layout and engage in beautification measures of a building all agreed was square and unattractive. The church members did not oppose those conditions. Cox, and several other church members quarreled with a proposed requirement that no more than 30 people use the church during business hours on weekdays, with unlimited use evenings and weekends.
Church members said the weekday restriction might limit attendance in the men”s prayer group, or even prohibit visitors from coming in at certain times. They requested the provision be struck down. Planners instead modified that condition.
Green said the church anticipates final close of escrow and getting the keys by April 29 and hopes to be into the church sometime this summer. Rarely, last minute changes can delay or even sink a closing. The building will be revamped to make it more accessible to handicapped persons and other changes.
A highlight of the meeting was when Cox revealed the church would not be retaining the bar and in fact the old bar area would become a nursery, bringing laughs from everyone from critics to commissioners.
Another dramatic part of the meeting was when Rosemary Jewett got up to speak, but became overcome by a speech difficulty. Jewett struggled to speak at the microphone until City Development Director Marie Jones gently suggested words, which allowed Jewett to deliver her speech.
Jewett wanted all on hand to know how important bowling was to her and other disabled/special needs individuals, who she said weren”t willing to get up and speak.
Green said he felt sad about the demise of the bowling alley, especially because so many Special Olympics bowlers depended on the facility. But Green pointed out the owner had tried to sell it as lanes and had been losing money for years in the effort, before accepting the offer of the church.
“There was nothing anyone could do about the bowling alley at the meeting,” Green said.
Green said the 13 year-old church has been nomadic, meeting in local schools, and then getting kicked out when the schools needed to renovate or use the facility in another way. The church is larger than many fixed-building bodies.
Green said currently 220 chairs are set up on Sunday Morning at Redwood Elementary School, with roughly 150 people attending on an average Sunday.
Calvary Chapel is a church in the evangelical tradition, with a strong emphasis on music. Pastor Green has written several of the nontraditional hymns, his works in use by Calvary Chapel bodies around the country.
Email Frank Hartzell at frankhartzell@gmail.com.
