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Proposed law riles ministers Jacksonville plan limits new church locations By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE -- A group of ministers and lay people is objecting to a proposed city law that would limit new churches and synagogues to three main streets in town. "If this passes, it would be a failure of our city's planning process because it would be failing to plan for growth in churches," says Jacksonville resident Wes Hartman. The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight to discuss an ordinance limiting nonprofit groups to arterial streets. Opponents say that by restricting churches, synagogues, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations to arterial streets, the city is prohibiting their growth completely. There is little vacant land on California, Oregon and Fifth streets -- the city's only arterials -- and what's available is either too steep to build on or too costly for a nonprofit's budget, Hartman says. City officials say they are considering the ordinance as a way to deal with increased traffic caused by the largest church in the Rogue Valley, the Applegate Christian Fellowship in Ruch. An estimated 4,000 people attend Applegate, church leaders say, many from Medford who drive Highway 238, called California Street through the middle of Jacksonville. "If you are a destination church that is serving and attracting a larger community than just the neighborhood, you have a larger impact," says Paul Wyntergreen, Jacksonville city administrator. Jacksonville resident and historian Larry Smith says city planners shouldn't use Applegate Christian Fellowship as their standard. "Applegate Fellowship is an anomaly among churches," Smith says. "The average church in the state of Oregon runs less than 100." It's nearly impossible to build a church on a main street of any town because of parking requirements, says the Rev. Bertram Davies, who opposes the ordinance. He is the minister at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, which meets in a city-owned building at 305 N. Fifth St. Built in 1854 for the Methodists, it's the oldest church building in Jackson County. "There are churches in downtown Medford and Ashland that would be illegal today because they don't have enough parking places," he says. Churches who want to expand may have help at the federal level. The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved HR 1691, designed to aid religious groups whose expansion plans are blocked by local zoning laws. However, a National League of Cities representative said the group would fight the bill in the Senate. Terry Luttrell, minister of the Calvary Church Assembly of God in Jacksonville, agrees that churches and synagogues have traditionally been allowed in neighborhoods. "I see a pattern of what I believe to be a discrimination against churches and religious institutions," Luttrell says. "Throughout our history as a nation, we've always made a place for churches in our communities without a lot of restrictions because the churches are influencing our communities in a positive way." If the City Council approves the ordinance, it will not be a new law but will reinstate one that existed until 1996, says Jason Locke, city planner. The new law will help clarify the law's language for groups applying for conditional use permits, he says. Smith, a teacher at Jacksonville Elementary School, sees the ordinance as inconsistent. "It's hypocrisy to limit a church to an arterial street when Jacksonville has a school that runs over 400 people daily in a residential area and Britt Music Festivals that runs 2,500 people nearly every performance," he says. "Britt is not only located in a residential zone, it's on a narrow, one-way street." City leaders should look to the past in planning the future, says Larry Jung, pastor of the oldest church in Jackson County, First Presbyterian, started in 1857. The church submitted plans last Friday for a new sanctuary on Middle Street in the Pheasant Meadows subdivision. Locke says that plan could be exempt from a new ordinance because it was originally submitted earlier. "Consider Jacksonville's founders, Thomas Royal, Father Blanchett, Moses Williams, C.C. Beekman and others who gave money and time to churches so they would remain strong," Jung said. "They wanted to preserve the church, which is not just a building, but a vital body of believers." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA