County approves church expansion

Thursday, April 8, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

The Clark County Commission on Wednesday cleared the way for a southwest Las Vegas church to keep growing despite the objections of some of the church's neighbors.

MountainTop Faith Ministries, which operates a Pentecostal church on Lindell Road near Sahara Avenue, has purchased all the former homes on the northwest corner of Lindell and Edna Avenue. The church is building a new sanctuary capable of holding more than 1,600 parishioners and more room in the other buildings for another 600 people. The church started in 2000 with a few hundred parishioners.

On March 4, the Clark County Planning Commission approved those uses along with some restrictions on parking and signs at the site. Some residents of Spring Valley township appealed the approval to the full county commission, which would have the last word on the zoning issue.

Since August, the church has tried to get county approval for its use of three of the former homes as auxiliary uses to the main church. It is the latest battle in four years of intermittent skirmishes between the church and some of the residents in the area.

County staff, in their analysis presented to the commission, said the church had violated parking ordinances and used three of the former homes on the church campus for religious purposes in violation of existing zoning.

Residents feared that with the growth of the church, which now splits its activities among various buildings, the problems would worsen.

"It's just incredible what the impact will be on the community," said Robert Lutz, a neighbor. He asked for a plan to show the eventual scope of the Pentecostal project.

"We deserve to know what this project is," he said. "We know we're going to live with this huge church. We know we've made mistakes as a community, mostly because of not knowing how the system works. But there's no need to continue with the mistake."

County counsel Rob Warhola told the commission, as he has in the past, that under federal law the county can do little to block a new church or an old church from growing. Congress in 2000 passed a law making it illegal for local governments to use zoning to restrict churches.

However, local governments can make "reasonable" efforts to limit the negative impacts of parking and other factors, he said.

The commission granted the church the right to use the three older homes for church purposes, and allowed a limited faceplate on the building wall of the church for identification, but restricted off-premise parking and overnight uses.

Karl Armstrong, a member of the church's building committee, agreed to the restrictions. He noted that with nearly 500 parking places already in or being built, the church will exceed the number of parking slots required by the county.

County planner Rob Kaminski agreed. With the land-use permits approved Tuesday, the church should not violate any of the county rules, he said.

"This will make them legit," Kaminski said.