WATERVILLE — Members of the Planning Board want to hear from the city attorney before making a recommendation about whether to rezone the First Church of Waterville’s properties in a residential area off Park Street.

The board debated the request for nearly an hour Tuesday night with the church’s lawyer, James Monteleone, who said federal law protects churches and stipulates government cannot impose land-use regulations that put a substantial burden on them.

Last year, the church asked the City Council to rezone 3, 5 and 7 Park St. to allow it to to raze two buildings and expand its parking lot, with church officials saying the congregation has grown substantially.

The request prompted debate, with residents of nearby Park Place arguing that tearing down former apartment buildings and drawing more vehicles to the area would disrupt the historic and residential nature of the neighborhood. Also, it would eliminate housing at a time when the city faces a dearth of housing, they said.

The City Council voted Dec. 5, 2023, to delay voting on the rezoning request until neighbors and church officials could meet to discuss the issue. Neighbors said Tuesday the church did not approach them to discuss a compromise.

A duplex at 3 Park St. is within 10 feet of the back wall of the church, and a former funeral home at 5 Park St. formerly had three apartments. They had all been renovated, but are now vacant since the tenants were asked to leave and the apartments gutted.

The church is asking the city to rezone the lots from Contract Zoned District/Commercial-A to Residential-D.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Monteleone focused on how changing the zone would enable the demolition of 3 Park St., a key step in improving access to the church. He said the church wants to build a door and ramp at the back of the church so parishioners with mobility issues can get into the building. Monteleone said there is a ramp and door at the front of the church facing Elm Street, but it is difficult to access.

Neighbors on Park Place stood Tuesday night to say they fully support the idea of having wheelchair accessibility for the church, and they want to reach a compromise with church officials.

Two buildings on Park Street in Waterville that a local church seeks to raze to make way for more parking are seen from Park Place. The First Church of Waterville’s steeple is in the distance. The buildings include a duplex at 3 Park St. that is within 10 feet of the back wall of the church, and a former funeral home at 5 Park St. that had three apartments. All are now vacant. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel file

Park Place resident Rafael Scheck said that while neighbors feel bad about the burden the church faces with the accessibility issue, they feel it is self-inflicted because the church knew the zoning restrictions when it acquired the property.

“I find it a little bit difficult to believe they were not aware there were restrictions on this property,” Scheck said, “because it came up (at a Planning Board meeting).”

He said neighbors are concerned there are many homeless people in the park and elsewhere in Waterville, and that removing housing — particularly housing that was recently renovated — seems wrong. If the church parking is expanded right in front of Park Place homes, that would negatively impact the neighborhood, he said.

Asked what the church plans to do with 5 Park St., Monteleone said there are no specific plans.

Neighbor Larkin Silverman said she agreed with Scheck about the accessibility issue, and she is in favor of anything neighbors can do to reach a compromise. She said it feels antithetical in a neighborhood, however, to render housing uninhabitable to make space for parking vehicles.

“I just do not want to see that used as a convenient excuse,” she said.

Scott Beale, a member of the city’s Housing and Comprehensive Plan Review committees, said his primary concern when working on those committees is to see more students in schools and the tax base expanded, and the key to that is more housing.

“I think we need to err on the side of housing as a general concept,” he said.

Monteleone said the church pastor did not attend meetings related to the contract zone, and conditions of that zone were never described in the property deed, so church officials were not aware of the restrictions.

“This is not a question of solving the housing challenge versus accommodating a fleeting desire to use the property differently,” he said.

Planning Board member David Johnson, who made a motion to postpone the matter, told Monteleone that since none of the board’s members is a lawyer, the board should consult with William A. Lee III, the city’s attorney.

Board Chairwoman Samantha Burdick seconded Johnson’s motion, which unanimously passed, and the board decided to continue the discussions to Oct. 22. Burdick also requested that all minutes related to meetings at which the contract zone was previously discussed be available at that meeting.

The city’s zoning ordinance prohibits parking lots in the current zone. The properties were rezoned in March 2020 from Residential-D to Contract Zoned District Commercial-A, which stipulates 5 Park St. can be used only as a beauty salon and spa, professional office or residences; 3 Park St. shall continue to be used as two residential apartments; and 7 Park St. shall continue to be used only as a parking lot.

The zoning was changed to allow a hairdressing and spa business to move to 5 Park St., and the conditions of the contract were intended to preserve the residential character of the abutting neighborhood. The business, however, never moved there.

The City Council refers zoning requests to the Planning Board, which holds a hearing and makes a recommendation back to the council. The Planning Board can only recommend, and the council has final authority on whether to rezone.

While religious institutions have tax-exempt status, the buildings the church seeks to demolish are not being used for church purposes, so the buildings are taxable, according to city officials.

That issue arose in an email sent last week by Stephen Meidahl, senior minister at the First Church of Waterville, who wrote to City Manager Bryan Kaenrath that the church has received a tax bill for “buildings the City Council refuses to allow us to remove.” The city, he said, threatens the tax-exempt status of religious properties, opening the door for other communities to engage in similar action.

Lee, the city attorney, said Monday he had just learned of the church’s complaint to the city about the tax issue and was not prepared to offer an opinion until researching the matter further.