Zoning Code Changes for Churches in Business District Tabled, Legality of Ordinance Questioned

At the recommendation of city staff, the request from Alderman Roger Patton to allow churches in the central business district was tabled by the Plan Commission.

because a church that had occupied space in downtown Waukesha before a lease wasn’t renewed would like to move back into the area and found that the zoning law prohibited the move.

RiverPark Community Church is currently renting space in a building on the corner of Springdale and Bluemound roads but would like to resume its ministry in the downtown area.

The intent behind the code as it exists was to preserve commercial frontages for commercial uses, said City Planner Mike Hoeft.

Hoeft recommended that the Plan Commission wait for input from the Business Improvement District, the city attorney and the consultant who is working on the downtown master plan.

“We don’t see an overwhelming need to change the code to allow churches downtown based on this one request,” Hoeft said.

One possible concern leading to the delay is a federal law disallowing discrimination against churches and Hoeft said that the city attorney is not done with his research on the issue.

“If you allow uses that are similar to churches in a zoning district but you say churches aren’t allowed, that’s not legal," Hoeft said. "For example, in our current code we allow lodges, clubs where people gather for meetings. How is that different from churches where people gather for services?”

Furthermore, the city has hired a consultant to do a downtown master plan.

“Since we’re spending a lot of money on this, maybe we should wait until it’s done before we start doing changes piecemeal to our zoning code,” Hoeft said.

Plan Commission member Vance Skinner brought up the possibility of an existing storefront church on Broadway Avenue and Hoeft said the city would have to research how that happened.

But Skinner shared some thoughts on the issue overall.

“I think we’re kind of challenging the idea of what a church is," Skinner said. "From my perspective, a church is the people that make up the building and not the four walls of the building itself.

"And to speak about urbanism here and population dynamics, I think there are folks who would like to walk to church in the downtown area, not the peripheral edges of it.”

Alderman Roger Patton told the commission that he thinks this issue can be resolved.

“I think we can work it out and come to a common ground,” he said.

 Patton noted that the church had a good record when it was last in the city.

Jeff Stupar, pastor of RiverPark Community Church, expressed his frustration with the inconsistency of the city.

“They said we were in violation of the ordinance. Why would they let us in there in the first place?” he asked.

Plan Commission member Joan Francoeur asked the staff to do their due diligence on the issue and bring the recommendation back to the commission for consideration.