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Council OKs church permit
By Zachary Markovic, Staff Writer
The Allen City Council decided the fate of the Harvest Oak Baptist Church after a heated public hearing during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The special use permit for the church, that includes plans to renovate the current structure on the 1400 block of Bethany Drive and three buildings plans for the future, was unanimously approved during the meeting. This comes a month after the plans were denied at a Planning and Zoning meeting.
The permit initially stalled because the city had concerns over what the traffic in the area would be like as the congregation grew.
Since the denial at the planning and zoning meeting, the city and church continued work together to come to a compromise. A second draft for the S.U.P. was created.
The only changes came in the form of two additions to the permit. The first stipulation being that upon obtaining the building permit for the third structure, the church would have to provide offsite parking for an additional thirty cars. The site would have to be approved by the city attorney.
The second stipulation is the church will need to provide police officers to control traffic as the need arises.
With the changes in place the City Council approved of the permit, allowing the church to begin the process of renovating the structure currently situated on the three acres of land. Pastor Jay Gibson said once they have reached a certain size in that building they will move into the second phase of construction, by building one of three 9,000 square foot buildings.
“I am glad the city did the right thing,” Gibson said. “We abided by every one of the stipulations and even went above and beyond the call of duty in many of the instances.”
However, the vote left some of the citizens, whose backyards are along the alley that faces where the church will be built, concerned that they were not included in the process.
Ryan Schefke, a resident in area said as the church grows there will be increased traffic. And not just to Sunday, but during the week, as the church expands to what programs it offers.
“As a resident it is challenging to keep up with what has been going on,” Schefke said. “We are concerned with the safety and the children that live in the area.”
Other citizens said that the spot was simply not big enough, even if the church remains small. Many felt that their backyard privacy was being invaded with church buildings planned 35 feet from the alley way. Chris Farr said he was afraid of what that would do to property values.
“I have lived there for ten years, and we were expecting other homes to go in there, other homes that would increase our home value,” Farr said. “These guys are not going to be onsite 24/7 like other homeowners. How are they going to stop vandals and burglars? Now I have to watch out for their property as well.”
Doug Mousel, a spokesperson for the church, said the church has met every need of the city when it comes to light screening and parking issues. The site will be surrounded by a six foot tubular fence, with 48 inch hedges filling in the spaces to help shield lights from cars.
Bass said the light screening meets the standards from the city and there are ordinances in place to come in after they have been built and re-measure light footprint to make sure they meet city standards.
Other neighbors felt the city simply caved under legal pressure from the church. Patrick Kafor said the church had hired a lawyer before the residents in the area truly knew what was going to happen. He thinks it was that legal pressure that caused the city to reverse from its early decision at the planning and zoning meeting.
“We think the city was concerned about the bad publicity and that is why they changed their opinion,” said Lordene Brown, a resident in the area, “I think the process was not fair to us. One of those buildings is set to go up almost in my backyard.”
Mayor Steve Terrell acknowledges there was pressure on them to grant the special use permit. He said it came from the state level more than any where else. A state law prohibits cities from denying church and similar community organizations from building in residentially zoned areas.
Terrell said that if it was not for the city ordinance requiring at least a special use permit for facilities that go into these areas, than the church could have gone in and built whatever they wanted without having to follow guidelines. At least this way the city has some control over what happens on the property.
“I don’t think it is the best use of that property,” Terrell said. “But, they met the criteria and so the S.U.P. was granted.”
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