Frederick Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds Planning Commission Decision to Deny Water/Sewer Plan for Mega-Church on Farmland
July 20, 2010 by FofFC
Filed under Police, Fire and Rescue, Protecting Waterways, Share your Opinion on Policy, Spread the Word!, Stop the Global Mission "Mega" Church Development, Urbana, Water and Sewer
Global Mission Church, with current perish in Silver Spring, wants to expand to Frederick County , clear forest and farmland, to build a 140,000 ft 2 complex at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain. This megachurch would be built on well and septic; local residents and professionals alike have expressed concern that this development would greatly impact the area’s wetlands, the Little Bennett Creek and the Piedmont Sole Source Aquifer.
In October our Frederick County Planning Commission denied the Global Mission Church (GMC) site plan. Their denial was based primarily on Frederick County public health and emergency professionals’ legitimate concerns about having this large complex septic sytem-dependent and the on inadequacy of planned fire precautions.
GMC has appealed that decision – and were heard before the Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals on hold a special hearing on case B-09-16 on Wednesday, January 20th starting at 1PM in the 1st Floor Hearing Room at 12 E. Church St. [Winchester Hall] in Frederick.
GMC lawyers are working to discredit Frederick County health and emergency safety staff opinion, and have complained that they were not permitted to cross examine citizens who attended the public hearing in October. GMC is also proposing to pave a road to access Dr. Perry Rd and satisfy emergency issues. The road would require woodland clearing and paving across a floodplain, Little Bennett Creek and just feet away from an existing home.
Why is the Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to uphold Planning Commission decision relevant?
“This case affirms that GMC must work within the 5,000 gpd septic capacity. With the size of their buildings and congregation, this seems impossible without seriously scaling down their proposed footprint and programming, no such backtracking has happened in the 2+ years of hearings on this issue. With this decision it seems more likely than ever that the site plan will be denied.
The court case challenging the FredCo Board of Appeals ruling is still pending, we can expect it to begin in earnest in September. The full Petition for Judicial Review of the BOA decision can be found here.. Read Full court decision here.
To read all past posts on the GMC issue, click here and scroll down.” Source of information: Montgomery Countryside Alliance website.
