Church annexation plan has kink: would violate city ordinance

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A Fayette church wanting to be annexed into Fayetteville to access sewer lines for expansion may not be able to do so.

That’s because city regulations prevent churches from being located on collector roads, which is the situation facing Heritage Community Church, currently located just across the county boundary on Lester Road. The property is adjacent to Cleveland Elementary School and the church wants to annex the 5.67 acres into the city.

Instead of voting on the matter at its meeting Tuesday night, the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission decided to table a vote so the matter could be looked into further.

Lester Road “is clearly identified in our ordinance as a collector street,” said city planner Eldridge Gunn. The requirement that a church can’t be located on a collector street was mainly to prevent problems with parking and traffic, Gunn noted.

Bob Adams, representing the church, said the only activity there takes place on Sundays since the church splits up into groups on Wednesday evenings to meet at the homes of individual church members.

Commission chairman Myron Coxe suggested that a traffic study might be needed to determine if the church would create a problem or if Lester Road can handle the existing and future plans for the church.

“If this goes forward, it would have to be a non-conforming use,” Coxe said.

The church wants to build a new sanctuary and add more classroom and office space.

The parcel is currently zoned agriculture-rural and would be rezoned to low density single family residential if the church’s request is ultimately approved. The city’s future land use map calls for a use of low density single family residential.

The Fayette County Board of Commissioners has voted in favor of the plan while also being critical of the rezoning.