Global Mission “Mega” Church’s failed site plan back for discussion
Contact: Janice Wiles , Friends of Frederick County 240 626 5209 Caroline Taylor, Montgomery Countryside Alliance 301 461 9831
Global Mission “Mega” Church’s failed site plan back for discussion
On Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 1pm, Winchester Hall the Frederick County Board of Appeals will hear arguments to appeal the Planning Commission’s October 2009 site plan denial for the Global Mission Church (GMC), a 138,000 sq ft structure planned for the base of Sugarloaf Mountain.
After careful scrutiny the Frederick County Planning Commission based their denial on the Frederick County Health Department and the Division of Fire and Rescue Services site plan reviews, both said there were critical deficiencies with the proposed infrastructure and enormous scale. The current site plan has GMC (an estimated 1000-1500 parishioners) using water from a federally protected sole source aquifer – the only source of water for over 12,000 area residents who rely on groundwater wells; and, has single access up steep grade in Frederick County.
“We believe that a decision on where to allow the construction and development of places of worship in Frederick County is critical to embracing our 20 year land use plan, and to our identity as an agricultural county. Churches and religion are an important part of our life and culture; churches should be built within municipalities where people can have access to their many services, and not on land zoned for agriculture”, said Janice Wiles, FoFC’s Executive Director.
“Residents throughout both Frederick and Montgomery Counties have registered numerous legitimate concerns with the tremendous scale and intensity of this proposal in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. The public has every right to expect that their local government will protect public health and safety, natural resources and adhere to their comprehensive plans. Frederick County’s Health and Life Safety Departments rightly saw that the size of this facility would overwhelm the sites septic capability and road infrastructure and therefore denied Global Mission’s necessary permits. Frederick County’s Planning Commission was bound by those decisions to deny the site plan.” said Caroline Taylor, Executive Director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance (www.mocoalliance.org). The group has been a voice about the impacts of GMC’s site plan, and has also been looking for an alternative and appropriate location for this large facility – one that is served by public water and sewer. “That’s where GMC ought to be.”
