Despite a neighbor’s objection, Wildwood Special Magistrate Lindsay C.T. Holt Tuesday approved a special exception to allow construction of a 6,045-square-foot church and a 4,000-square-foot parsonage.
Crossings Christian Church is planned on the north side of County Road 216, west of U.S. 301 near County Road 209.
A special exception was required to allow construction of a church in an area zoned for agriculture. Special exceptions do not require Wildwood City Commission approval.
City water and sewer are not available to the property so the church will have a septic tank, domestic well, fire sprinkler tank and pump system.
Unpaved parking is planned on three sides of the sanctuary.
Opposing the church, neighbor Joshua Douglas said the church would increase traffic on CR 216.
He said there are eight churches within a five-mile radius of his home and the road may be widened to accommodate the Crossings church.
“I don’t need to be staring at a church,” he said. “We don’t need more traffic. Our road has been a passage for everybody to speed down.”
Holt told Douglas that the plans call for a significant amount of landscape buffering.
The five-year-old Crossings Christian Church currently holds services at 1308 Cleveland Ave. (County Road 466A).