Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-00-01-008 — Solid Rock Baptist Church

Request: Special Exception in R-1 zone for church use and Variance for unpaved parking.

Decision: Approved

Hearing: As of January 5th, Staff had received 17 commentaries, four (4) in favor and 13 opposed to the request. Most of the opposition indicated concerns over traffic to be generated from the proposed church use. The applicant's representative, attorney Stuart Buchanan, presented 29 additional "in favor" commentaries at the public hearing. These additional commentaries were mainly from neighborhoods to the south and west of the subject property. A community meeting was held on December 16th, and approximately 35 citizens attended. The attendees at the meeting were generally in favor of the request. Commissioner Sindler and his staff attended the community meeting. A straw poll taken at this meeting revealed 22 citizens in favor, 6 in opposition, and several non-voting or neutral. At the BZA hearing, Mr. Buchanan and the applicant, Pastor Bardwell, provided additional photographs to Staff, and explained how the questions at the community meeting had been addressed. Also at the BZA hearing, six (6) citizens in opposition attended, and 30 citizens in favor attended, as indicated by the Chairman's hand count. Three citizens spoke at the public hearing. Two citizens were in favor of the request. They indicated that the church use would be more palatable than a single family subdivision. Staff and BZA members clarified that it is not determined how much land or what density is developable on the subject property, given its flooding and infrastructure constraints. The current proposal is for renovations only. Mr. Mike Kozak of Greenbrook Court spoke in opposition to the request. His opposition was based on the assumption that the church will come back to BZA for a phased expansion or growth plan eventually. Mr. Kozak presented pictures of the Solid Rock Baptist Church on Forest City Road, as an example of potential traffic issues and signage issues. Mr. Kozak also asked the Board about possible code violations and maintenance deferral/failure at the subject prop*