Council Will Consider Church-School Plans

Plans to redevelop the former Eaton Corp. building in Westlake Village into a combination church and high school will be presented at tonight’s City Council meeting.

Executive Pastor Bob Feitl of Calvary Community Church, which filed its request to relocate to the Eaton facility Aug. 22, expects to receive the go-ahead for the move from the council tonight.

“We are very confident that there will be a positive response,” Feitl said. “So far, we have had very positive feedback from the city and we have received a lot of community support for what we’re doing.”

The church’s growing congregation makes the move to the 35-acre site on La Tienda Drive necessary, the pastor said. The new facility will accommodate three times as many worshipers, and parking spaces will increase to 1,200 from 50, according to the church’s preliminary space utilization plans.

“We have been working very closely with the city the last six months and this is the best solution that we have investigated,” Feitl said.

About 189,000 square feet of the 308,000-square-foot facility will be occupied by the church, according to the plans. The remainder of the facility will be sold to the Price Family Foundation, which will develop the space into a four-year, coed Christian high school. Seventeen acres will be used by the church and 18 acres by the high school. The two institutions plan to have a shared-use agreement for common facilities such as parking and a cafeteria.

The church anticipates moving to the new facility in September 1998, Feitl said. The school should hold its first classes in September 1999.

The new church will include a 2,000-seat celebration center, meeting spaces and administration offices, plans show.