Four Square Church to Discuss 'Flat Top' Development Plans Tonight

Is the Four Square Gospel Church, longtime owners of 37 acres of hilltop property in Montecito Heights, ready to develop one of Los Angeles last remaining open spaces?

A community meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Montecito Heights Senior Center, regarding the church's plans to develop 40homes on a hilltop parcel commonly referred to by locals as Flat Top.

Roy Payan, President of the Montecito Heights Improvement Association (MHIA), sent the following email to members earlier this week.

I was contacted by Vince Daly the developer who is proposing a major development on Flat Top on behalf of Four Square Gospel Church, who are the owners. As he promised back at our last meeting with him in Nov. 2011, he is bringing a representative of the Church with him. He also stated that he would have answers to a lot of the questions and concerns that were raised at the last meeting.  

Flat Top is one the last open land spaces in Los Angeles with vast open vistas, wildlife and native fauna.  If you care at all about protecting our open land spaces from more development, please come to our meeting this coming Thursday at 7pm, @ Montecito Heights Senior Center, 4545 Homer Street, LA, Ca 90031.

For being a small community, Montecio Hts currently has an abundance of foreclosed homes. To add 40 more to that inventory with no regard or benefit for the community and in the process destroy one of the last remaining open land space and wildlife habitat is just ludicrous.   Please make plans to attend this very important meeting and help us with our continuing battle to protect this site for future generations.  Hope to see you there.

The Four Square Gospel Church has owned 37 acres of Flat Top for about 80 years, which it purchased in order to erect three radio towers that would broadcast the sermons of founder Sister Aimee Semple McPherson.

According to a 2004 People for Park's report prepared for the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy (SMMC) Report, the church previously expressed interest in preserving the land as open space. 

The report can be downloaded from the media box above.

The Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council in 2004 also voted in favor of supporting an effort by the SMMC to acquire the land.