Church-packed Community Resisting New Addition
posted 4:33 pm Tue May 06, 2008 - Washington
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Churches are usually something people want in their neighborhood, but some Northwest D.C. neighbors want one congregation to stay away over traffic fears.
Driving down 16th Street in NW, one will see a number of churches and plans for yet another one aren't going too well. "There are a lot of people who are very, very upset."
Cheryl Benton and other residents of the East Carter Barron community are worried about plans by the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints to build a new church at the corner of 16th and Emerson Streets.
The building will house a chapel, classrooms and have 80 surface and underground parking spots. "They're going to bring in 400 new families every Sunday and they're going to have meetings every night of the week, and there's just... we have so many, so many," said Benton.
Neighborhood parking is already tough enough on Sundays, they say, plus the church is too big at 33,000 square feet with a 105 foot tall steeple. "I don't care if it's pretty or not."
"I want it to be smaller. I want them to reconfigure the steeple. If they're gonna have a steeple, perhaps they can make it smaller," said resident Trish Cooper.
Local Mormon leaders insist the spire will inspire and promise their church won't make life miserable for neighbors.
"It actually is a pretty modest-sized steeple compared to most churches in that neighborhood and we don't think it will detract in any way from the neighborhood."
The Associated Press may have contributed to this article.
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