GOLDEN — A south Jefferson County church promises to limit its overall size in a quest to build a separate youth center.
But neighbors of The Rock of Southwest Baptist Church said at Tuesday’s rezoning hearing before the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners that the church already is too big.
“The Rock is being operated at or beyond the scale of what is appropriate for the surrounding neighborhood,” said West ridge homeowner Eric Struble, who spoke on behalf of the home owners association.
Struble accused The Rock of misleading the community about its growth plans. When the church purchased the property — a former YMCA — in 2001, “they assured us it would be a small, community church and not a megachurch,” he said.
Westridge resident Lynn Zimmerman said a church of that size “doesn’t belong in a neighborhood. I’m not against what they do, but they need a bigger site.”
Church representatives said the proposed 16,000-square- foot youth center is needed to relieve overcrowding in its children’s programs, and they denied the facility would be an events center.
“The church feels it has worked very hard to listen to the community,” said consultant Curtis Rowe.
The Rock has whittled its 63,000-square-foot total building space to a maximum of 48,000 square feet with a 39,000-square-foot footprint, Rowe said, and agrees to not add a second story to the existing building.
The church’s existing zoning allows it to grow to 63,000 square feet, 15,000 more square feet than the proposal offered Tuesday.
No decision was made, and the hearing was continued to April 15.
