The original plan
As LOVE has previously reported, OVCN’s original plan was to create a sports-based ministry in a rural neighborhood including an indoor multi-purpose sports complex and an outdoor ballfield with stadium lighting. This plan required a rezoning approval. This has resulted in a 4-year long battle with the neighbors who vehemently oppose this expansion as it will severely impact their rural neighborhood and peaceful way of life.
The revised plan
Although OVCN has not formally withdrawn their original plan, their new plan (revealed during a Neighborhood Meeting at the Town Hall on September 26th) is to build a new sanctuary (for which they are requesting a height variance of 40 feet.) The new plan also includes a student center, maintenance building, and a new parking lot to accommodate approximately 600 more vehicles.
The KGUN Interview
Reporter Kenny Darr stated that, “Pastor Collins believes these plans better align with the church’s mission while minimizing potential concerns from neighbors.”
During the interview, Pastor Collins stated,
“We believe that strong churches make for strong communities and so we want to make a difference for our community. We’re not doing that in any intentional way to disrupt or ruin anybody’s life who happens to be in close proximity to our church property here, but we think there’s a high value in what our church is offering our community, and we want as many people in Oro Valley to be able to benefit from that as possible.”
This prompted numerous rebuttals from residents living adjacent to OVCN and from other Oro Valley residents who have been following this saga for the past four years. Below are excerpts from some of those rebuttals.
A small neighborhood church becomes a megachurch
What began as a small neighborhood house of worship has metastasized into an enormous church. With it has come unbelievable traffic transforming a quiet neighborhood into a huge parking lot not only on Sunday but also on other days when the congregation gathers. Hundreds of cars park on both sides of several streets (no sidewalks) leaving unsafe conditions for people who are walking or jogging, people on horses or bikes, and parents with children in strollers.
Pastor Collins says that he wants to serve the community. Where is this community? Congregants are driving -- not walking to this church. Who knows how far they travel to get to the church. A church is a house of worship. So why then do they want to build a multi-purpose facility? Multi-purpose for what? And then a student center. What does that have to do with worship?
This area is already flood-prone. Adding more blacktop and more buildings is going to be a disaster in the making for residents and the horse stables close by. During monsoon season, these streets are impassable because there is no storm drainage. I personally waded several times through flowing water on Loma Linda to get to my home. And this water came from Calle Concordia.
Name withheld by request
Is it a sanctuary or a basketball court?
It amuses me that the new building (that they want a height variance for) is now called a sanctuary and youth center. At our meeting with Pastor Coulter (5 neighbors met with him on August 1st in the church meeting room) he said they needed the height for two basketball courts with stacking seating for multi-purpose use. RLUIPA (the Federal Religious Land Use Act) states that preferences can be given to churches for “religion related activities.” Since basketball courts do not fall under “religion related activities” they have changed the wording of their variance. But if Planning and Zoning approves the height variance, what is to stop OVCN from putting in the basketball courts, which will increase usage of the property and the traffic to most every day and night -- not just Sundays. Well-played OVCN.
Tricia Tozier
Close Encounters of an unwanted kind
Pastor Collins’ comment, “We believe that strong churches make for strong communities and so we want to make a difference for our community” -- My response is that the neighbors are the primary stakeholders of our community and do not want expansion in our community.
In response to Collins’ other comment, “We’re not doing that (expansion) in any intentional way to disrupt or ruin anybody’s life who happens to be in close proximity to our church property here.” -- It has been made abundantly clear that expansion is not welcome. Unintended consequences are intentional if you are informed of the harm, yet you persist.
OVCN's plans are to circumvent the law by repackaging their rezoning expansion plans into a height-variance expansion plan. The net result and intentional harm to the neighborhood are the same.
If not the community, then who is OVCN's expansion serving? Certainly not Jesus. We can't get out of OVCN traffic to get to our own church on time.
Jennifer Jacobson
OVCN has a history of unintended consequences
Pastor Collins claims that they are not intentionally trying to disrupt the lives of those living near the church. Intentional or not, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be unintended consequences or collateral damage.
Case in point: OVCN has already disrupted the neighbors’ lives with their loudspeakers, loud music, bright lights, and high traffic volume. I'm sure that wasn't "intentional" either, but it happened, nevertheless.
And since the church refuses to withdraw their original rezoning request, that signals to me that they have more up their sleeve for the future (as one neighbor speculated during the Town Hall Neighborhood Meeting, “Is this just the camel’s nose under the tent?”)
Diane Peters
---
---
