Planning commission OKs megachurch- and ignores objections from neighbors

By SJ Otto

A Mega church is planning to build housing, an amphitheater and many other facilities- and all of this at the objection of close by neighbors.

According to The Wichita Eagle, there is a:

complex that will back up onto the Willo-Esque neighborhood in west Wichita, shortly before planners approved the project and sent it on to the City Council.

The new development will include 180 patio homes and apartments, a 165,000-square-foot event center, a 500-700 seat outdoor amphitheater, a school, a youth/fitness center and athletic fields. It’s planned for 33 acres of vacant land just west of the existing church buildings at 6100 W. Maple, near the west bank of the Big Ditch….

And there have been complaints:

…. The plan has so far encountered little opposition and passed unanimously at the District Advisory Board Wednesday. But at the Planning Commission hearing Thursday, three neighbors questioned what it will mean for their lives.

“I’m very concerned about light, noise,” said neighbor Joan Flynn, who’s worried how it will affect the value of her home.

“Even with just the church being over there, they every once in a great while light it up like a Christmas tree and it’s annoying,” she said. “When I hear there’s going to be a sports field and an amphitheater (and) that the amphitheater would close at midnight, gosh, you know, we have kids in that neighborhood that don’t stay up till midnight and I am very concerned.”

The first thing we have to wonder is why a church needs so much property developed. Would Jesus, in his time, become a multi-millionaire capitalist? Why does any church need so much property and income? That seems not to be the reason for a church in the first place. And these mega churches are gaudy anyway.

The other issue is why the city always has to take the side of developers even when the people around them don’t want the development. The answer is easy. This is a city, like many, where the elected leaders are in the pockets of the developers. The developers own city hall and all who serve. They owe their careers to the developers. Until we can get some people elected in city hall that work for the people and not the corrupted interests, that’s how things will be.

Pix from Central Community Church and Sauerwein Construction..