Church gets go-ahead, but in new neighborhood

Valerie Miller

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

If at first you don't succeed, try again. And that's exactly what developers of a church proposed in Henderson did at Thursday's Planning Commission meeting.

The First Missionary Baptist Church, which last year had been denied a request before the Planning Commission to build its Wagonwheel Baptist Church in the city's River Mountain area after nearby residents turned out in protest, may finally get their house of worship -- but in a different neighborhood.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of a use permit to build the 13,360-square foot church with a 45-foot steeple on five acres in the Foothills area of Henderson -- a part of the city better known as Section Four.

Section Four is a community consisting of custom homes on one-acre lots on the south side of Lake Mead Drive, across the road from the Calico Ridge community

About 30 residents of Section Four showed up at Thursday's meeting to voice concerns over the project, but unlike the River Mountain residents a year ago, they were more concerned with being involved in the planning of the project than stopping it.

"Nobody here has anything against this church, but we are concerned about keeping our rural lifestyle in that we are an area zoned for one-acre lots, and people moved to this area for the peaceful setting," resident William Plouffe said after the meeting. "We just wouldn't want the church to set any bad precedents for future commercial development."

Residents were especially concerned over possible traffic problems caused by the church in an area where many roads are still unpaved.

While granting the church its use permit to build on its new site at 821 Cadiz Ave., Commissioner Dale Lay added the condition that the project must come before the panel again for an architectural review to possibly scale down its proposed height of 35 feet. He also stipulated that the developers meet with residents.

Residents seemed to keep an open mind about the church after the meeting.

"They (developers) are willing to meet with us, and there are certainly worse neighbors to have than people going to church," Plouffe said after the meeting.