Church Scraps Plans for Larger Parking Lot

After huge opposition from neighbors, leaders from The Orchard Evangelical Free Church have scrapped plans to tear down eight homes in the neighborhood for a larger parking lot, the Daily Herald reports.

Church officials sent out a release saying they’ve changed their plans, and instead will form a parking ministry, which will oversee traffic and monitor parking spots on Sunday mornings. The committee also will provide shuttle and valet services for some of the 1,350 people that attend church there each week.

Neighbors have rallied against plans for the expanded parking lot, and even formed a Hickory Meadow Community group to voice opposition.

The church owns eight homes on N. Douglas Avenue, which it planned to demolish for the parking lot. The families living in those homes were been asked to move earlier this year.

During a public meeting held by the church in early June, more than 100 residents who live nearby came to protest the church building a new parking lot. 

A number of issues came to the surface during the two-hour meeting. 

An overarching criticism from neighborhood members was the lack of communication from the church to residents when information about the parking lot plan began to surface in February. 

Many neighbors stated there really isn't a parking issue.

Orchard Free Evangelical Church Board Member John Clarkson said numerous police complaints had been made by residents against church members who park on residential streets during Sunday services. 

One neighbor stated he made several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the village, and learned there have been three police complaints filed this year, and around 35 over the last seven years against the church relating to parking. 

When one resident asked the entire group if they would call the police because of church members parking on neighborhood streets, there was an overwhelming "no" response. 

Other concerns related to safety of neighborhood children with increased traffic flow coming out of the proposed new parking lot on Olive Street, in addition to fears of increased rodents and wildlife resulting from the demolition of the eight homes owned by the church where the proposed lot would be. 

Emotions ran high when residents talked about families who lived in the church-owned homes. Though people in the audience stated they were evicted, Clarkson clarified, stating their leases were not renewed.

Neighbors complained not enough notice was not given, making the end of the school year especially stressful for families renting the homes who have school-aged children. 

Other comments related to the church not being a good neighbor, not only by low communication, but also by failing to consider negative affects the more than 200 additional parking spaces would have on property values, in addition to the loss of dozens of trees.

Comments about the overal aesthetic of the neighborhood changing drastically with a large parking lot right in the middle of it also were made by several people in attendance. 

One neighbor suggested the church find a new location, stating they are a "misfit" in the neighborhood. Many members are drawn not from the neighborhood itself or even the village, but from more than 70 zip codes in the Chicagoland area as stated on the church's website.