Stephen Meidahl, in front, second from left, senior pastor of First Church of Waterville, sits Tuesday night with church attorney James Monteleone, third from left, at the City Council meeting where parishioners packed the council chambers. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — A 15-month controversy over First Church of Waterville’s bid to raze two apartment buildings and expand its parking lot is over, leading the way for the church to drop its federal lawsuit against the city.

The City Council on Tuesday took a final 4-1 vote to amend the zoning for 3, 5, and 7 Park St., enabling the church to demolish the buildings, enlarge the parking lot and build a ramp at the back of the church for those with accessibility issues.

Church attorney James Monteleone, of the Portland firm Bernstein Shur, sat with pastor Stephen Meidahl in a council chambers packed with church members. Meidahl and Monteleone did not speak publicly, but Monteleone said after the meeting that he thinks the lawsuit will not go further.

“I anticipate that the action will be dismissed within the next 30 days,” he said.

Monteleone said he anticipated the buildings would be demolished before the beginning of April.

Meidahl was relieved, he said, at the council’s decision: “We’re sorry that it ever had to go down this road.”

Church officials filed the lawsuit last month, claiming the city was thwarting church efforts to do what it wants with its property and using discriminatory land-use regulations that burden the church’s rights of religious exercise. The lawsuit came just days after the council again sent the church’s rezoning application back to the Planning Board for more consideration.

Not everyone at Tuesday’s meeting was happy with the council’s decision.

Councilor Cathy Herard, D-Ward 7, the lone dissenter, read aloud an email from church neighbor Lori Scheck, which said she was grateful for the council’s handling of the issue but disappointed with the outcome.

“Understandably, this needed to be resolved,” Scheck’s email said. “However, the pastor got away with knowingly ignoring zoning laws and our requests for not having traffic on our dead-end street, ignored our concern for safety and privacy, and did not in any way, shape or form reach out to us with an offer of a mutual agreement, and acted in an unchristian-like manner. I am disappointed that a community entity that is supposed to be Christian has done everything in their power to defy the zoning regulations, eliminate good housing for an area in desperate need, and gotten away with it for a few extra parking spaces.”

The council took several votes Tuesday before the final one that ended the church matter, the last of which was a request to take a second, final vote on the ordinance that would make the requested zoning changes. At that point, Park Place resident Nancy Williams asked to speak.

“We’ve never had a chance to discuss it — it just went through,” she said.

City Solicitor William A. Lee III said the council had voted Tuesday to rescind the vote it took in February to refer the matter to the Planning Board and the motion before the council was not for reconsideration of referral to that board.

“The ordinance has been amended,” Lee said.

City Councilor Cathy Herard, D-Ward 7, seated at left, was the lone dissenter Tuesday in a vote to approve zoning changes for First Church of Waterville. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

Scheck’s husband, Rafael, who attended the meeting but didn’t have a chance to speak, said later Tuesday in an email that unlike the church, the neighbors were “not going to sue the city for two parking spaces which is what Nancy Williams’ plan would have cost the church.” Williams last month asked that two corners of the church parking lot be landscaped, and that is what prompted the council to refer the issue to the Planning Board.

“I also wanted to ask that this outcome not be called a compromise,” Rafael Scheck said in his email. “We made several compromise offers to the church. They were all ignored, even the very last one based on Nancy Williams’ plan.”

About 15 months ago, the church, located at 1 Park St., asked the city to change the zoning of its properties so it could demolish two former apartment buildings and expand the parking lot abutting Park Street and Park Place. The buildings are at 3 and 5 Park St. and the parking lot is at 7 Park.

Neighbors objected to the request, saying it would change the residential and historic character of the neighborhood, increase traffic and eliminate five apartment units at a time when housing is desperately needed in the city.