SHEBOYGAN, WI (June 27, 2007) \u2013 Zion Covenant Church will continue to seek opportunities to use a house it owns for \u201cmissional purposes,\u201d although the city\u2019s Plan Commission again denied the congregation\u2019s request for a conditional use permit due to neighborhood opposition.<\/p>\n
The church had hoped to allow Family Resource Centers (FRC) to use the three-story house. Family Resource Centers is a countywide nonprofit agency that promotes families through many programs, including parent education, drug prevention and support of military families.<\/p>\n
![\"House\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/lH\/OJ\/lHOJUl07TSAqIqq7DZRUAA\/House.jpg\")
\u201cThey\u2019re highly respected around the state,\u201d says Andy Hopp, Zion\u2019s director of Christian formation. He noted that the organization has a $500,000 budget funded largely through state and federal grants. The organization is seeking a new home because the local hospital, which owns the building leased by FRC, is tearing down the structure for expansion.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, roughly 50 people representing both sides of the issue crammed into a small bedroom-size meeting room to comment on the issue. After two hours, the commission rejected the request for the second time in five weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really frustrating for us,\u201d Hopp says.<\/p>\n
The opposition submitted a petition with more than 100 signatures, but Hopp says organizers had misrepresented the church\u2019s intentions. Opponents complained that approval of the permit and development of the property would lead to excessive noise and traffic.<\/p>\n
Hopp called the argument \u201cdisingenuous.\u201d Most of the organization\u2019s activities are held offsite, and what activities it does host \u2013 such as the parent training classes – are relatively small. The real reason for the opposition, he believes, is that neighbors were angry the church had torn down another old house adjacent to the church so that the congregation could expand parking.<\/p>\n
Hopp said that old house was in disrepair and would have cost the congregation $200,000 to fix it up. The old house was located between the church building and the house for which the church had sought the permit.<\/p>\n
For the past 35 years, the current house was used as a home for girls who were ordered there by the court rather than have them incarcerated in juvenile detention. Although the building was \u201clocked down,\u201d problems often occurred in the neighborhood, Hopp says.<\/p>\n
Zion, along with another church, had made the house available for that special purpose. When the state decided to no longer use the building, Zion bought out the other church\u2019s half-interest for $130,000.<\/p>\n
He says the church will not seek legal action. Instead, a church committee will continue seeking a way to use the house for ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are totally committed to missional use,\u201d Hopp says.<\/p>\n
The church met for six months with various ministries and social service agencies interested in using the home prior to their decision to provide space for FRC, Hopp says. They may now revisit a proposal from a prison ministry that wanted to use the home for transitional housing, as well as other possibilities.<\/p>\n
Zion was welcomed into the Evangelical Covenant Church last week during the 122nd Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n