'Megachurch' plans decried





E-Mail This Article

by Sara Stefanini
Staff Writer

---

May 11, 2005

Susan Whitney-Wilkerson/The Gazette

Laytonsville residents are questioning plans for a 'megachurch' on this rural land at Route 108 and Griffith Road. They include Steve Lamphier. David Parkhurst, Greg Stone, Ben Holmes, Jane Evans and Phyllis Sterling.

Please Enable JavaScript

Well water, traffic problems envisioned

Ben Holmes moved to Laytonsville last August because he wanted to get away from the noise, traffic and congestion of downtown Silver Spring.

"We were touched by the rural character of this area," he says of the 200-resident town surrounded by farmland. "... This is just one of the last untouched areas in the county."

Holmes would like Laytonsville to remain that way -- rural, quiet and undeveloped -- even though, ironically, he is a real estate agent. "I'd like to see no housing ever built here," he says with a laugh.

But a church's plan to develop a 225-acre plot neighboring Holmes' 2.3-acre property threatens to disrupt the agricultural town's "untouched" character, residents say.

In a jam-packed meeting last week at Laytonsville Elementary, Derwood Bible Church leaders presented their plan to build a 1,500-seat church on an empty field at the corner of Route 108 and Griffith Road by early 2008.

A handout the church provided also lists possible additions, including a cemetery, horse stables, sports fields and courts, and a home for troubled teens.

"This is not just a church, it's a complex," said Phyllis Sterling, a resident.

Derwood Bible Church is one of a slowly growing number of churches applying to develop more expansive "megachurches" in the county's agricultural reserve -- a 93,000-acre area the county designated as a rural density zone in 1980 -- where land is cheaper and easier to come by.

The trend brings to light the lack of restrictions on church development in the agricultural reserve.

Zoning laws in the area, which includes Laytonsville, limit housing projects to one unit per 25 acres, the lowest ratio in the county, and forbid commercial development.

With a congregation of up to 600 people, Derwood Bible is growing out of church on Chieftain Avenue in Derwood, said the Rev. John Long.

Despite residents' concerns about the nondenominational church's impact on the town's rural character, Long said that when the planning and developing begin, staying in stride with the scenery will be one of the church's top priorities.

"Anything we have even thought of building would be less than 17 percent of the land," said Long, adding that he and other church leaders have already discussed painting the church in earth tones, to match the surrounding fields. "We are very mindful that it's an agricultural area, we are very aware of the scenery."

Still, residents say the size of the church alone will clash with the scenery.

"The size and scope of what they plan on doing does not fit with what else is out here," said Jane Evans, a resident. "... It's not [consistent] with the agricultural area."

In keeping with the town, the church has promised to draw its water from a well and septic system, instead of a more environmentally disruptive sewer system. Residents worry, however, that such an expansive complex could affect their own water supply.

"All of us tap into the same natural resource," Holmes said. "And fifteen-hundred people, that's a lot of toilets being flushed."

Laytonsville has an "average" water supply and has had few problems in the past with wells drying up, said Jay Beatty, manager of well and septic section at the county's department of permitting services.

"To my knowledge, we really haven't run out of water because of adjacent property use," Baty said. "The ground water in Laytonsville is in good supply, it's not like it's scare or we have a problem with wells running dry."

Whether the church could affect neighbors' water supply depends, however, on the church's proximity to the wells and its activities, he said.

Paul Scholl, a plumber who lives near the land, said Laytonsville's wells are not "very good wells." A good well collects 10 to 30 gallons of water a minute, while Laytonsville's well collect two to seven gallons.

The one or more parking lots included in the church's plans could also cause problems with the church's water supply. Carlton Gilbert, a zoning supervisor at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, said the "impervious structure" of parking lots that accompany megachurches in the agricultural reserve are becoming a concern because they block water flow on the land.

The development would require some roadwork on Griffith Road and Route 108, driveways leading from both roads and, possibly, the construction of a new bike path, according to the church's handout.

Sterling, a former Laytonsville councilwoman, worries that the amount of traffic the 1,500-seat church will draw will create congestion on the town's historic main street and impede the town's vision of having a walkable community, she said.

The church plans to buy the land on Thursday, Long said.

So far, they have had the land tested to make sure it can sustain the development, and started working with architects to plan the design, said Long. They have not applied for any building permits yet.

Long did not know when if and when they will build the additional ministries described in the handout, but said that the ministries are part of the "the dream in totality."

In the last two-and-a-half years, the park and planning commission has approved sewer service for two church projects in areas zoned for rural density in Germantown and Clarksburg.