Here’s what you need to know about the fight over a proposed megachurch in Milton
A church’s application to build a new campus in a Milton neighborhood has led to a top city’s resignation, a pause on new development and a fundraising effort to stop the project.
An Edgewood church, Salvation Slavic Baptist Church, applied to build a 2,000-seat church in a Milton neighborhood. The city accepted the application last October.
Here’s what you need to know about the “megachurch” proposal in Milton:
What is Salvation Slavic Baptist Church?
The church is a member of the North-Western Union of Slavic Baptist Churches.
It has a campus in the 10600 block of 8th Street East in Edgewood. The church offers Russian-language classes and operates Slavic Christian Academy, a K-12 school serving about 200 students, according to its website.
The church’s mission statement includes: “Salvation Baptist Church is called to lead people to saving faith, help them grow spiritually, and assist them in serving God and others. This mission statement can be expressed in short form as ‘Believe, Grow, Serve’.”
What has been proposed?
Salvation Slavic Baptist Church applied for a conditional-use permit in April 2019. The project would develop nearly 20 acres at 1707 23rd Ave. to include a 92,000-square-foot church, a 7,500-square-foot gym, a 26-student classroom school and 546 parking stalls.
In October, the city signed a “mitigated determination of nonsignificance.” The determination is part of the process for new construction. In signing the determination, the city said the proposal would not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment. A group of citizens disagreed and appealed.
What happened next?
The appeal from citizens triggered an arbitration process. An independent arbiter will determine whether the church receives a conditional-use permit to build and whether there is an adverse impact on the environment.
Who has spoken out against this?
Residents of the neighborhood have created a nonprofit organization, “Citizens for a Small-Town Milton,” and a GoFundMe to stop the project. They said a “megachurch” like this one does not match the character of the neighborhood and therefore breaks city code.
The Muckleshoot and Puyallup tribes have written letters to the City of Milton. They ask for the city to stop the project until the potential impact to tribal fisheries can be determined, saying the current proposal impedes upstream migration for fish for streams off Surprise Lake.
Former Public Works director Nick Afzali resigned days before he was expected to testify in arbitration. He said in a letter to the mayor and city staff the project was the reason for his departure.
Have there been any other repercussions?
On March 15, the City Council put a pause on conditional-use permits in residential areas for six months so it can evaluate the process of issuing them.
The pause will not impact the church’s application.
What’s next in the process?
The church has continued with its proposal. The Salvation Slavic Baptist Church’s project manager, Andrew Chepel, told The News Tribune the church had no comments at this time.
The city has commissioned independent reports.
Milton said in a email to The News Tribune that a hearing examiner, a neutral professional, is the final decision maker on both the citizen appeal of the city staff’s original decision on the mitigated determination of nonsignificance and the conditional-use permit application.
The final arbitration hearing is scheduled for July 19 and 20. The additional reports will be a major focus of the July hearing, City Attorney Scott Snyder said.
