LYNNWOOD – The Good Shepherd Baptist Church is facing opposition from neighbors to its proposal to remodel the church and community gardens as well as build affordable senior housing apartments, a community arboretum and a small event center.
The church needs to rezone about half of the roughly 4-acre property at 6915 196th St. SW from a single-family to a multiple-family zone so it can build the 40-unit senior housing, congregation, church president Lynn Melby said.
Residents in nearby single-family houses and Copper Ridge Condominium told the Lynnwood Planning Commission the new church campus will bring more traffic, noise and crime. They also are concerned the land will remain multiple family even if the church leaves or changes its plans.
“It is not just a line on a map,” said Cindy Kang, who lives in a house near the church. “It is going to be permanent on the landscape.”
Residents also are worried a new dead-end street to give gardeners access to the church’s community gardens will be opened for a through street.
Kang described the proposed development as a “nightmare.”
“Once there is an access road, people will cut through,” Kang said.
After listening to hours of testimony, the commission decided to continue the public hearing Thursday. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in City Council chambers.
The commission could make its recommendation then and inform the council, Lynnwood community development director Jim Cutts said. The council will make its decision as early as September.
Residents reminded planning commission members that the city already is overrun with multiple-family housing. City policy is to promote 60 percent single-family and 40 percent multiple-family residences. To date, that ratio is roughly split in half.
The church itself has not been significantly remodeled since it was founded in the 1960s. The plan is to double the size of the fellowship hall, improve the restrooms, change the sanctuary’s layout and make the church more accessible for those with special needs.
Church members also want to build a community arboretum, which would be open for elementary school fields trips and Edmonds Community College students.
The three-story senior apartment building would contain about 40 500-square-foot, one-bedroom apartments, as well as common rooms.
“We want to do this right.” Melby said.
Jenny Lynn Zappala is editor of the Mill Creek Enterprise.
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