Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 3, 1993 TAG: 9306030369
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
In an application nearly identical to one that the Radford City Council turned down last year, the congregation has asked to be allowed to build a 4,000-square-foot church on the lot, which is next door to Grove United Methodist Church.
The site is zoned for a single-family house.
City law lets applicants who are turned down file again after one year.
Grove United Methodist Church strenuously opposed the permit last year on the grounds that the new church would have an "undue adverse impact" on the neighborhood and on their church.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have said that they intend to leave a 30-foot buffer between themselves and the Methodist sanctuary, which was built in 1975.
There are some differences in the church's application this time around. For one, the Jehovah's Witnesses now own the 2.3-acre site. For another, the city Planning Commission's procedures for handling the application, filed May 25, are slightly more involved.
Planning Commission member H.M. "Mac" Harvey Jr. said that the panel will get its first look at the request when it meets June 21. He said that a public hearing "probably" would be held July 19.
However, because of recent changes in the city's zoning law, the commission will study the issue in detail before making a recommendation to the City Council.
It's unlikely that vote will come before August.
Last June, the Planning Commission narrowly voted to recommend the request.
Meeting minutes indicate that Harvey voted against the request, citing traffic and noise.
Commission members Polly Corn and Jim Graham, who attended Grove United Methodist Church, abstained.
When the City Council voted on the issue last July, Corn cast the deciding vote against the church project. It was denied on a 2-2 tie. Councilman Bobby Nicholson, also a Grove United Methodist Church member, did not attend that meeting.
Both had abstained in an earlier vote on the matter.
City Attorney John Spiers told Corn that, in his opinion, she was legally bound to vote one way or the other because the issue was not a valid conflict of interest.
Following the council's denial, a circuit judge in December turned away a Jehovah's Witnesses' lawsuit to reverse the decision because it was filed one day too late.
The Jehovah's Witnesses attorney, Joey Showalter, said Wednesday that he's optimistic this time.
"I think they stand a good chance," he said.
by CNB