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Jacksonville Christians march to city hall Youth ministry gets lessons in religious freedom, city planning By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE -- Youth minister Jenny James and 17 junior high students walked four blocks from the oldest church in Southern Oregon to the oldest city hall to listen to a discussion about religious freedom. The students, sitting in city hall pews, could easily be picked out among the crowd with their ponytails, backward baseball caps, shorts and T-shirts. "I wanted the City Council to see there are more Christians in Jacksonville than the elderly," said James, youth ministry leader at First Presbyterian Church. "We need new church buildings for the next generation. They need a place to worship too." The Jacksonville City Council discussed a lengthy ordinance Tuesday, a portion of which would limit church construction to Jacksonville's main streets. "We've been accused of trying to run God out of town," said council member John Dodero. "We're not trying to legislate against churches; we're trying to do the city's work." The City Council is concerned about increased traffic in this historic town. Council members want to limit growing organizations to arterial streets, just as they limit growing businesses or industries to land zoned for that use, Dodero said. "The proposed amendment we want to put into this ordinance ties the size of the building into how adequate the street will be to accommodate the use," Dodero said. The city created an equation for lodges, churches, hospitals, schools and government agencies -- which all require a conditional use permit -- based on the number of daily trips made by the patrons. "This strikes me as micro-management," council member Donna Schaatz said during Tuesday's discussion. "We shouldn't cut off an applicant without understanding their particular situation. The concerns of the residents of Jacksonville should be part of our recommendation to the Planning Commission." Residents packed the council meeting on July 20 to voice opposition to the ordinance. A major concern was that there is little vacant land on Jacksonville's main streets on which nonprofit groups could build. City officials agree there are only a handful of commercial or residential lots remaining in town. There is a 10-acre lot situated in a subdivision where First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville hopes to build a new sanctuary. Because the church submitted a conditional-use application to the city last month, the new ordinance won't apply in this case, the city planner said. The City Council on Tuesday approved most of the ordinance, which sets guidelines for granting conditional use permits. But it sent back the portion dealing with non-profit organizations to the Planning Commission, requesting additional information about how the daily vehicle trip numbers were calculated. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA