Public outcry over Milton’s megachurch proposal sparks permit pause
Milton is not accepting any conditional-use permits in residential areas after a proposed “megachurch” has left neighbors rallying for its removal.
The City Council unanimously passed a bill on March 15 to put a pause on conditional-use permits in residential areas for six months while there are changes made to the type of development and size of development allowed in neighborhoods.
Conditional-use permits are used for development not outlined in the city’s comprehensive plan and require approval from the city. Milton’s Public Works director Nick Afzali said in the March 15 council meeting that development like swimming pools, churches and schools are permitted in residential areas.
Milton’s city attorney, Scott Snyder, told council March 15 that code adjustments had been made a few years back, but there was still work to be done.
“There was no follow-up to adopt the necessary developmental regulations,” Snyder said. “Everything like differentiating the size of the development in the residential neighborhood, to the fact that frankly your (comprehensive) plan doesn’t use the word ‘church’ at all anywhere in the document as a whole.”
Several residents are upset about a proposed church and requested a hearing examiner to listen to their concerns before a permit could be issued. There has been a fundraising effort to fund attorneys in the hearing examiner case.
Edgewood’s Salvation Slavic Baptist Church submitted an application for a conditional-use permit in April 2019 for nearly 20 acres at 1707 23rd Ave. The project includes a 92,000-square-foot church, holding up to 2,000 people, a 7,500-square-foot gym, a 26-student classroom and 546 parking stalls.
Afazli said that staff was considering a 20,000 square-foot threshold.
“So anything below 20,000 or up to 20,000 would be more a neighborhood church and anything above that would be more as a regional church, which should not be located in a residential neighborhood and should be somewhere that is light industrial or would be in some areas that are commercial,” he told the council.
After the immediate pause on these permits, the city held a public hearing April 15 for citizen input.
One public comment by a member of the planning commission, Jacqueline Whalen, was made. She approved the “moratorium” to amend the code.
The pause will not impact the Salvation Slavic Baptist Church’s permit, Snyder said. That proposal will adhere to the permit guidelines in place at the time the city accepted the application in 2019.
Mayor Shanna Styron-Sherrell referred all comment to Snyder.
Council member Phil Linden, an active opponent of the “megachurch,” as he calls it, said he is happy with the decision to change the code to be more specific.
“Our intent is more protection for our residential zone and protecting our small town character,” he said.
Linden, who lives near the church site, said even though the code currently does not include square footage restrictions, the Slavic Salvation Baptist Church proposal should not be approved as is.
“I don’t think that anyone saw a conditional-use permit would allow a 92,000 square-foot church in a neighborhood,” Linden said. “That’s not the intent of the conditional-use permit. Just because size wasn’t specified doesn’t mean common sense goes out the window.”
The city requested additional reviews of the property be made. Consultants reviewed the buffer space between the site plan and the wetlands.
A Seattle environmental consultant group, Herrera, concluded in its report that the current layout of the project would encroach on the city’s required 105 feet of buffer between a building and wetland.
Parametrix, a Seattle engineering consultant group, said its report to the city “several components of the application do not meet Milton code requirements,” like the buffer between the stream and the project.
The hearing examiner case will continue on April 26, 27 and 28.
