Ridge Community Church's Greenfield Plans in Holding Pattern

Changes to the original conceptual design of a proposed large church raised enough concerns by Greenfield’s Plan Commission last week that it was unable to suggest a favorable recommendation to the city’s Common Council at this time.

Rev. Mark Weigt, lead pastor of The Ridge Community Church, is confident he and his team will make the necessary changes that prevents that from happening a second time.

Chuck Erickson, Greenfield’s Community Development Manager, said he and the Plan Commission were comfortable with phase one of The Ridge Community Church’s proposal, which includes a 21,000-square-foot building, a playground and 220 parking stalls, based on a conceptual review rendition provided by the church in August, in a 12-acre parcel from 9500 through 9700 of West Layton Avenue.

But things got dicey when the discussion turned to a potential phase two of construction that included the expansion of the main building and an additional 300 or more parking stalls.

The city would have to rezone the land from residential to institutional to pave the way for the church, but won't do so with the plans as they are now.

“They had presented an earlier rendition of how they planned to use the parcel and the architect at that time, included a smaller area for an expansion,” Erickson said. “The submittal that was made for the formal rezoning request (Sept. 13) as it would relate to a potential phase two, represented a much larger portion of the lot being used for buildings and the required parking.

“It raised the question, ‘Will it really be a good use of the land to that scale?’ The question that was asked was, ‘Does this become ‘overpowering’ to the site?’”

Erickson also had concerns with the proposed conceptual rendering of the building that appeared to use predominately metal panels, a storefront window concept and limited use of masonry and asked the church to reconsider its exterior look.

Also, Erickson said a second access to the facility from 94^th Street, in addition to the main entrance off Layton Avenue, would be needed now and not as part of a phase two development stage.

The church group seems determined to change the commission’s mind, and even promotes the location as its future home on its website.

“We respect and agree with the concerns that the commission has brought to our attention,” Weigt said. “We feel as they do, that this is a pristine site, with many mature hardwood trees and natural landscape elements. It's our dream to build a building that enhances the site with the least amount of disturbance.

“We feel very confident that with some minor adjustments to our plan we will be able to address the commission’s concerns. We believe they will agree that our revised plan is to date the best proposed use for this property. Moreover, our team needs to do a better of job of clearly communicating our vision for the development of this property, which will not only be well within city code, but also satisfy the commission’s desires.”

The nondenominational church began approximately 4 ½ years ago and held worship services at Marcus Theatre's Ridge Cinema in New Berlin. For the last year, those services have been held at .

According to the Plan Commission materials, the church currently has 500 members, is anticipating between 600-700, or roughly 300 families, by the time phase one construction would be completed and could have has many as 1,200 sometime down the line.

“It is a legitimate thing for staff or the commission and the council to say, ‘We’re OK with what you’re proposing now, but this site maybe can’t handle a doubling of what you’re proposing,'" Erickson said. “When things come in that are of a phased development pattern it simply raises the question of, ‘Can this site accommodate this stuff?’ Laying it out on paper and saying it fits is one thing.”

Erickson did suggest that the Plan Commission OK the notion of holding a public hearing regarding rezoning of the land at a future common council meeting either in October or November, but said issues discussed last week need to be readdressed at the Oct. 11 Plan Commission meeting before a formal yes or no can be done in regards to forwarding a recommendation to the council.

“Once again, we need to do a better job of communicating our vision for the property,” Weigt said. “This includes the future. We believe the site will accommodate our future growth, but we will need to make some minor changes on our end that will accommodate the commission’s concerns.”

Weigt said he and his group have met with the city to specifically discuss the exterior materials and said the church’s revised plan will reflect the change that he believes will be acceptable to the city.

He added it is important to his church to build and expand in Greenfield. Members from the congregation are from several communities, including Greenfield and the Layton Avenue location is centrally located and easily accessible from all directions.

“This area also provides many valuable amenities including retail, gas stations, and restaurants for our community to frequent both before and after our Sunday services,” he said. “Moreover, we feel very at home in Greenfield, since our two weekly Sunday services are currently held nearby at Whitnall High School."