INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — After a lengthy discussion about how nighttime church activities and parking issues may be affecting the neighbors, the Board of County Commissioners voted to allow the Full Gospel Assembly Church on Old Dixie Highway in South Vero to build a new fellowship hall.
The church has a little more than a half-acre of land, on which it how has a sanctuary building, a shed and some unpaved parking spaces, with 10 grandfathered-in on-street parking spaces near the entrance. The addition will more than double the existing space, adding more than 2,700 square feet.
The staff determined that the application met the county’s criteria and said that a fellowship hall was an allowable special exception for a church. The Planning and Zoning Board last fall recommended approval of the application, provided that the church obtain release of some easements and that a landscape buffer be installed.
Neighbors testified during the public hearing that the church, which took occupancy of the sanctuary building that has been there since 1958, for the past nearly five years has caused parking and noise problems.
The pastor of the church, Rev. Jean Baptiste, along with members of the church also attended the meeting and spoke in defense of the congregation, saying that its members simply have a joyful fellowship and that they are not disruptive.
Engineer Randy Mosby said he’s been working with the church on the plans for the fellowship hall, and that the church has reached a tentative agreement with an adjacent commercial property to get permission for overflow parking on his lot during a few special events each year.
County staff and the commission added a stipulation to the approval that the church pay to stripe a pedestrian crossing and mark it with a sign, at the church’s expense. Public Works Director Chris Mora said that crossing would cost less than $500.
One neighbor, Kevin Crowe, who lives directly across the street from the church to the south, played an edited videotape of a church service breaking up at nearly 10:30 p.m. The video showed more than a dozen cars and trucks pulling out, adults and children speaking loudly and honking car horns to each other as they drove off.
“There have been other churches there that operate quietly,” Crowe said, adding that he saw the change when Full Gospel Assembly moved in, that they’re a motivated and growing congregation and that they are hoping to expand to host weddings and banquets in the new hall, which could exacerbate the nighttime activity.
Crowe’s wife also spoke and said that the church meets at least three nights per week, that members often back up into her yard or driveway, and that members make noise after neighbors have put children to bed.
“We don’t like the way they’re conducting themselves in the neighborhood. It’s not respectful,” Kathryn Crowe said, noting that she has no issues with religion, and that she likes having a church nearby, that it was one of the factors that made her residence an attractive choice when her family was looking for a quiet, out of the way neighborhood to live in.
Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said, “I guess you can say noise is noise, but the noise is generally joyful. It’s folks cheerfully saying good-bye and children laughing.”
Chairman Wesley Davis recognized the neighbors’ concerns that the church might grow and move into the larger building – which is not the intended use – and that neighbors should make officials aware if that happens.
Commissioner Tim Zorc asked about any noise ordinance in place and Community Development Director Stan Boling said decibel levels are limited between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., but that he doesn’t believe the noise from congregants dispersing rises to a level that violates the noise ordinance.
Developer Joe Palladin, who was not a party to the public hearing, rose to speak on behalf of the church.
“The expanding of a church is a positive thing. It’s a positive thing in our neighborhoods and a positive thing in our community,” he said, urging the church members and the neighbors to sit down together once again in an effort to resolve their differences.
Prior to the hearing, the county staff facilitated a meeting with the church leaders and the neighbors being affected, but based upon the testimony during Tuesday’s hearing, that meeting failed to result in any long-term fix.
Commissioners voted 5-0 to accept the staff’s recommendation, plus the requirement that the church pay for the pedestrian crosswalk on Old Dixie Highway.