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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondencePage 1 of 2 Jennifer Prochazka - Fwd: Plans to Continue to Serve in the Lincoln Neighborhood From: Lance Simms To: Amber Carter; Molly Hitchcock Date: 1/10/2011 8:20 AM Subject: Fwd: Plans to Continue to Serve in the Lincoln Neighborhood FYI - this info goes with the 4:00 pm PAC on Wednesday. Lance Simms, AICP, CBO Assistant Director of Planning & Development Services City of College Station, TX Phone: 979.764.3742 City of College Station Home of Texas A&M University >>> "Don Sweeney" <drsweeney@suddenlink. net> 1/8/2011 7:47 PM >>> Lance -- Members of the Board of Directors of the Community Service Center (CSC) look forward to meeting with City staff members in workshop at 4 p.m., Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011 to discuss evolving plans for the CSC to continue serving community needs in the Lincoln neighborhood. A couple of xears aqo the Community Service Center, a community service ministry of the A&M Church of Christ (a separate non-profit corpo�ationj, rented a rVsdencumt 403"Hof el man-Dr-to-contima proving need—e eenii`ce`g"fayt-emtiefs-6f-the'rwd6ili r ei—ghborhood. We had begun so serving in the vacated facility at the congregation's former location across the street from A&M Consolidated High School, 1901 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy S -- currently occupied by the Southwood Campus of Grace Bible Church. In the last two years, we have developed regularly scheduled programs including monthly food distribution in coordination with the Brazos Valley Food Bank and Project Unity; a large GED program funded by the Region Six Educational Service Center; and weekly services delivered by WIC, now numbering around 300 hundred clients/month. We also offer more occasional/seasonal services for persons throughout the community including Lincoln neighbor folks at our administrative at the Reata Complex 2911 Texas Ave. S. We are open to developing new programs as need and opportunity avail. To that end, and in response to a situation developing at the current "Lincoln House" site, we are in the process of acquiring two adjoining properties at 401 Holleman Drive, immediately east of the Lincoln Center across Eleanor, and 1013 Eleanor, a site abutting 401 Holleman on its north side. We would like to develop this L- shaped piece of property (the two sites together) into a new location for our operations, and this is the case we need to discuss with you and other staff professionals of Planning and Development Services next Wednesday in pre-app conference. We want to make sure what we are proposing fits with the City's plans for the neighborhood and City as a whole -- and that we do it right. An initial, rough site plan envisions placing a facility at the east -end of the 1013 Eleanor property, using the 401 Holleman site mainly for parking. We would propose using the existing curb cut on Eleanor to access the site. The operations in the existing facility have not produced excessive trash, but could, especially with an expansion of food distribution programming, so we thought we might locate a trash pickup location near the curb cut or within the parking lot for easy access by city vehicles. We'll bring all the documents we have to the pre-app meeting on Wednesday. Thank you for working with us to get us scheduled. We look forward to working with you and the other staff members to make this project the best it can be. Don Sweeney 693-6851 file://C:\Documents and Settings\jprochazka\Local Settings\Temp\XPgrpwise\4D2AC3ED... 1/11/2011 Carla Robinson - Re: Question re: definition of church in the UDO Page 1 of 2 From: Carla Robinson To: Lance Simms CC: Crissy Hartl; Glenn Brown; Harvey Cargill Date: 10/3/2006 11:19:24 AM Subject: Re: Question re: definition of church in the UDO Lance - You indicate that the A&M Church of Christ owns property located in an R-1 district. The church no longer worships at this location since they have moved to a new building. However, they do lease their original space to another church that worships there and uses the facilities for other accessory uses like their religious education. A&M Church of Christ also leases space in the building to other outreach programs or non-profit organizations. A&M Church of Christ recently initiated a rezoning request to rezone the property from R-1 to A-P. The adjacent neighbors are opposed to a rezoning and questioned whether the church was required to rezone to allow the current use for outreach programs. Under the City's UDO a "church or place of worship" is defined as "a building in which persons regularly assemble to worship, intended primarily for purposes connected with faith or for propagating a particular form of religious belief." §11.2. Places of worship may exist in R-1 zoning districts §6.2(C). The issue is whether or not the outreach programs to which the A&M Church of Christ leases its space are "intended primarily for purposes connected with faith or for propagating a particular form of religious belief' and therefore permitted uses in the R-1 zoning district. As to whether particular uses are included within the definition of a church as religious purposes so as to be permitted within a residential district under a zoning ordinance, courts have held both ways. Uses held to be permitted include: married student dormitories on a theological seminary campus, a day care center on church property, a center for young people's drug problems in a church parish house, a church's temporary use of a dwelling house and garage for a parsonage and church, a university students' religion center with a coffee house, a lighted recreational complex on church grounds, a spiritual retreat house, and a bible camp. Uses held not to constitute a permitted church use include: camp meetings on the grounds of a tabernacle, a farmers' organization that used a former church building for meetings, a religious organization's radio station, a school to be operated by a vicar and his wife at their residence, and a Jewish foundation's proposed educational, religious and recreational center. One Ohio court held that, in the zoning context, a church cannot enjoy completely unfettered use of its property just because the activities conducted on the property bear some relation to a church purpose. To fit within the definition of a church or church purpose, the activities or the use to which the property is put must be reasonably closely related, in substance and in space, to the church's purpose. Solid Rock Ministries Internatl. v. Monroe Bd. of Zoning Appeals 740 N.E.2d 320 (12th dist. Butler County 2000). In determining whether the outreach programs that lease space from A&M Church of Christ fit within the City's definition of a "church or place of worship" you should consider whether the lease of the church's space is "intended primarily for purposes propagating p g' -___-- consider factors such as whether the outreach programs are an official part of the church's program of worship, whether fbi i- h` � rist ur oses connected with faith or fora articular form o religious ious belief." . You should p _ e Church of Christ If the church believes its current use of the property does not require rezoning, you should ask them to provide the information to address the factors above, or any other information you will need to make your determination. If you determine that the church's use of the building fits within the definition of a church or place of worship, then the city may only regulate that use if there is a compelling governmental interest in doing so, and the city uses the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §110.003. Please let me know if you have any questions. Carla Carla A. Robinson Senior Assistant City Attorney City of College Station Phone: (979) 764-3507 Fax:(979) 764-3481 about:blank 2/4/2010 Carla Robinson - Re: Question re: definition of church in the UDO Page 2 of 2 This e-mail and/or attachment is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and /or legally privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all electronic and paper copies of the original message and any attachments. Thank You. >>> Lance Simms 06/13/06 6:41 PM >>> Harvey/Carla: I have a question for y'all to consider but before I ask it I feel some background info would be helpful. Background Crissy and I met with representatives from the Church of Christ and a few of the neighborhood residents last Friday to discuss the possibility of a PDD zoning for their property beside the High School (the property is currently zoned R-1). As you may know, the church recently completed the construction of a new facility on the by-pass and since that time another congregation has been renting the old facility to hold their services. As I understand it, there are also a few community outreach organizations leasing portions of the old facility. During our meeting on Friday, the definition of a "Church" was discussed. As you may know, the UDO definition is "A building in which persons regularly assemble to worship, intended primarily for purposes connected with faith or for propagating a particular form of religious belief." Question If a building is used exclusively for community outreach programs, does it still meet the UDO definition of a Church? Stated another way, if a building is not used regularly for the purposes of assembling for worship, is it considered a church? As it relates specifically to this case, if all of the old facility (beside the High School) is leased to community outreach organizations, is it still considered a church? For what it is worth, I told the folks on Friday that I thought "a building in which persons regularly assemble to worship" is a critical part of the UDO definition. Absent that activity, it is hard for me to define a building as a church. There were those present that made the point that "worship" could take many forms (including community outreach). Thanks for your time and consideration - any thoughts and/or feedback is appreciated. Lance Simms, CBO Acting Director of Planning & Development Services City of College Station, TX Phone: 979.764.3741 about:blank 2/4/2010