Churches are more than places of worship used only on Sunday mornings. In a case from Biscoe, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled against several local residents who opposed a church’s plan to build a food pantry. The opponents were concerned about parking, with the existing food distribution program drawing more people than worship services.

Page Memorial United Methodist Church has been operating on a site on Church Street in Biscoe since 1900. Around 1990, the church began a food distribution program from the basement of its education building. The food pantry program was a success, with volunteers distributing food to 200 to 230 people each Saturday.

In 2003, the church applied for a building permit to move the site of the food distribution to a new building to be built on an adjoining lot it owned. A group of local residents opposed the move. The town’s zoning administrator and Board of Adjustment decided to grant the church the necessary permits. The residents challenged the action in the courts.

Biscoe had adopted a zoning ordinance. The land around the church was zoned as R-12, a classification that allows churches. The town’s zoning scheme, however, also establishes standards for a variety of aspects of building and lots. Nonconforming uses can continue, however, provided they are not expanded.

Before the courts, opponents to the church’s proposed new building contended the permit violated the town’s zoning ordinance by allowing the growth of a nonconforming use. The church meets neither the town’s setback requirements nor its minimum parking space standards.

The challenge focused on the parking requirement. The town requires a parking space for every four seats in the “largest assembly room.” The church’s sanctuary seats 120 to 189, requiring 30 and 47-1/4 parking spaces. The church does not have that many parking spaces and relies on on-street parking.

The opponents argued that the food pantry would expand the peak parking demand, thereby increasing the scale of the nonconforming use. The Court of Appeals, however, rejected this argument.

“The plain language of the ordinance makes clear that parking requirements for churches are determined solely by the number of seats in the ‘largest assembly room,’” Judge Linda McGee wrote for the court.

“Accordingly, because the church sanctuary would remain the ‘largest assembly room’ in the church after construction of a food pantry, the parking requirements for the church would remain the same. There would not be a greater nonconformity with the minimum parking requirements after construction of a food pantry; therefore, construction of a food pantry would not impermissibly expand the parking nonconformance.”

The appeals court also rejected the opponent’s challenge the food pantry does not constitute an “accessory building or use” under Biscoe’s zoning ordinance.

The court held in part “…the provision of food to the hungry is incidental and subordinate to the church’s main purpose of worship, although it serves the main purpose and principal use of the church. Accordingly, a food pantry would qualify as an accessory building or use, and we overrule these assignments of error.”

The case is Jirtle v. Bd. of Adjust. for Town of Biscoe, (05-155).

http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2005/050155-1.htm

Michael Lowrey is associate editor of Carolina Journal.