RANCHO BERNARDO -- A day after a San Diego hearing officer approved a local church's request to operate in this community's industrial park, the Rancho Bernardo Community Planning Board voted Thursday to appeal the decision.

Several board members said they wanted to go on record as not being against churches, despite their decision to file the appeal. If it fails, Grace Church will be allowed to operate in a building at 10970 Via Frontera for seven years.

A majority of the planning board's members agreed the panel needs to pursue the appeal to get city clarification about the board's role in land-use decisions.

Board Chairman Jim Denton said that position was based on board members' belief that the Rancho Bernardo Community Plan identifies the park as an area for industrial uses only. The board also believes it is responsible for ensuring compliance with the plan, he said.

"We're not necessarily for or against this type of thing," Denton said about Grace Church's proposal. "It's just been our understanding that we can't approve them because our community plan prohibits it."

The issue has the potential to affect at least two more churches seeking to move into the industrial park, located west of Interstate 15, between Rancho Bernardo Road and Camino del Norte.

The Planning Board advises the San Diego Planning Commission and the San Diego City Council about land-use and development matters and policies in this upscale community of just under 40,000 people on the northern edge of the city.

Mapped out when Rancho Bernardo was created in the 1960s, the industrial park is west of Interstate 15, between Rancho Bernardo Road and Camino del Norte. Its current residents include corporate heavyweights such as BAE Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Sony Electronics, SAIC, NCR Corporation and Northrop Grumman.

A number of smaller businesses are also based in the industrial park.

Grace Church was established in 1996. The church, whose Web site describes it as a congregation of people passionate about the Gospel, has an office on West Bernardo Drive but has been holding all its worship services in the performing arts center at Rancho Bernardo High School.

The proposed relocation would give the church a home of its own.

The Planning Board asked the city's development services department for guidance on whether churches were permissible in the industrial park, when the board reviewed Grace Church's proposal earlier this year. The city's answer then was that such uses were incompatible with the community plan.

The Planning Board then voted to advise the city to deny the church's request for a conditional use permit that would allow the congregation to operate in the industrial park anyway.

Since then, though, San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre's office has said the city's denial of the church's application could lead to a lawsuit that would cost the city time and money. And Wednesday, a hearing officer considering the request on behalf of the city granted the church its permit.

Thursday's Planning Board meeting attracted three people who urged the panel not to appeal the decision.

The speakers included Rancho Bernardo resident Bruce Taylor, who said he does not belong to the church but feels it would be a good fit for the industrial park.

"It's like flex time at work," he said. "Here with Grace Church, where it would go (is) off there by itself where no one else would go (on Sundays)."

Grace Church member Eric Turbudsky said he and his fellow congregants will have put $1 million into the relocation by the time the church opens in the industrial park.

"The entire church is eager to proceed with our contribution to the community," he said. "If you appeal our application, you will only (ignore) the advice your city staff and city attorney. … You will only delay and waste the time of your residents."

A handful of Planning Board members said they saw little point in appealing the city's decision to grant the church its permit.

Noting that approval of the church's permit could set a precedent, Denton said the apparent conflict between the proposed relocation and the community plan -- and confusion about the board's role in determining compliance with that development blueprint -- need to be cleared up.

"Our concern is, whether it's a Grace Church or a Petco or anything else that goes into the park, it puts us in a position where we're not going to be able to turn anybody else down," he said.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.