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Troy denies downtown church gatherings

By Anthony Kuipers Daily News staff writer

TROY — The Troy City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to deny a conditional use permit that would allow church gatherings at a downtown building.

The matter concerned the former Umpqua Bank building on 424 S. Main St. that was bought by Matt Meyer in November. Meyer took over the building with the intent to rent that space out for events. He approached the city council to allow Christ Church members to meet there each week for religious meetings, a purpose that requires a conditional use permit (CUP) because the building is in a commercial zone. Meyer is a parish elder with Christ Church.

This became a controversial issue that drew many community members to a January public hearing on the matter. Most of the people who spoke at that meeting opposed the CUP.

On Wednesday, the Troy City Council was asked to discuss whether these religious gatherings would conflict with the city code and comprehensive plan. This meant discussing issues like its effect on parking, on neighboring properties and on the development of the community as a whole.

Councilor Cindy Gray brought up concerns about parking. While some downtown properties occasionally draw a lot of traffic during events, she said frequent church gatherings pose a bigger problem.

“I think what’s really pressing here, though, is that this would be on a more regular basis and the crowds would be quite large it sounds like,” she said.

Councilor Patrick Cordova also expressed fears that parking for these gatherings would spill into neighboring residences and businesses.

Councilor Bill Abbott shared his concerns about how these gatherings may affect commercial growth in downtown Troy. He said downtown Troy only has two blocks of area for retail, which is why he is concerned about allowing religious meetings there.

“I kind of looked at it as it could potentially limit the growth of downtown Troy,” he said.

He also brought up the issue of a church gathering interfering with anyone who wants to open a nearby brewery or other type of business that sells alcohol. According to Richardson, Idaho code does not allow a business that sells liquor by the drink to be within 300 feet of a church.

The council determined denying the CUP would not deprive Meyer of all economically viable uses of his property, or have a significant effect on his economic interest.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers [at] dnews.com.

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