Frederick Court decision regarding Global Mission Church
Frederick Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Frederick County Planning Commission’s (FCPC)decision to deny GMC’s Water and Sewer (W+S) Plan Amendment. Full court decision here.
Why does this Matter?
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..
To read all past posts on the GMC issue, click here and scroll down.
Background
The court decision is from a case filed in Circuit Court by GMC way back in the fall of 2008, with amendments in February of 2009.
Most Churches that apply for permits to build in FredCo’s Ag zone are small enough that normal well and septic, allowing 5000 gallons/day, are enough to support the size of their congregation. The plans for the GMC property would need far more than 5000 gpd to accommodate the many thousands of congregants attending services, Church estimates went as high as 11,600 gpd! (see p. 14 of Court Decision)
To increase the available water and septic on their site above the 5,000 gpd cap, GMC applied for a “multi-use” system designation, requiring an amendment to the County Wide Water and Sewer Plan. In deciding whether such a system should be allowed, the FCPC took the following into account:
- The Frederick County Comprehensive Plan seeks to limit development west of 270, “for conservation and rural/Ag uses to protect Sugarloaf Mountain, the Bennett Creek Corridor and other Natural Resources in the area.” The Urbana region section of the Comp Plan also specifically seeks to limit development in stream valleys, particularly along Little Bennett Creek.
- A large increase in available water and septic means more density is possible on that site, meaning more people, more buildings and more traffic, in opposition to the Comp Plan guidelines.
- Access to this site is not ideal; a 300 ft bridge (think of a football field) would have to be built over Little Bennett Creek, again in opposition to the Comp Plan.
In other words, FCPC members looked at all the pertinent factors and denied the Church’s plan because it was inconsistent with a number of Master Plans. We believe they acted in a logical, responsible fashion.
GMC, however, brought suit claiming that none of the previously mentioned factors should have any bearing on the FCPC’s decision, that the FCPC should have only looked at the septic capacity guidelines.
The Court’s decision upheld the FCPC’s decision, noting that the FCPC was duty bound to consider both consistency with Comprehensive Plans and the impact of higher density on the surrounding areas.
To read all past posts on Global Mission Church, click here and scroll down.