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| Jeff & Corrine Holt | 3/5/2012 7:42:10 PM |
| I just want to again submit a comment to strongly oppose the addition. The comments made by Judd & Cheryl Robinson and also Karen Haas are appropriate and we agree with them. The church should purchase propertly elsewhere to accommodate their immense project. This area is not the proper area for their addition. This should remain zoned the way it already is. | |
| Judd & Cheryl Robinson | 3/3/2012 4:04:41 PM |
| The Rabbit Creek Community Church is once again trying to expand on the same property that STILL has no water or sewer facilities or traffic control. Nothing has changed since the last time we had to appeal their expansion. The Planning & Zoning Commission agreed there was no infrastructure to support such an expansion then & denied their request. The church says the new 17,399 square foot addition, with 11 classrooms, are not for a future school only for their youth studies. With a $5 million dollar price tag do you think they will let those classrooms sit idle all week & use them on Sundays & Tuesday nights only? Even Pastor Goodman admitted that they may have a day-care and or pre-school in the future. With 11 classrooms they will be able to also have a K-6 school in the future. AMC.45.235 which states in part that a church will not have a permanent impact upon the items listed below substantially greater than that anticipated from permitted residential development. 1. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic circulation and safety 2. Demand for and availability of public services and facilities 3. Noise, air, water and other forms of environmental pollution 4. Furtherance of the goals and policies of the Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan and conformance of the plan in the manner required by Chapter 21.05 The average size of a Walgreens is 14,500 square feet. They could fit 2-1/2 Walgreens in this building. From what we can tell the combined building will be approximately 280 feet long. Just shy of a football field. The neighbors who use Rabbit Creek Rd everyday to get back & forth from work think Rabbit Creek Road is too dangerous for a development like this? The current building is without a sprinkler system for fire suppression and will have over 400 people in it. This church started out with a footprint of 2,600 square feet. They portrayed themselves as a small community church. Now they want to build a mega church on a piece of property that is not capable of supporting the 750 members the church hopes to attract to their church. We hope the planning & zoning commission will see that nothing has changed since the church’s last request. The church has saved up $2.5 million dollars for this project, they could use that to purchase a piece of property that DOES have all the infrastructure that is needed for a building this size. Then they could have the school they have always dreamed of building. This is not the proper location for a project this size. Judd & Cheryl Robinson T12N R3W SEC 33 Lot 167 | |
| Karen Haas | 2/27/2012 9:30:27 PM |
| Dear Sir/Madam Our property (Legal Description: T12N, R3W, SEC 33 LT 169) borders Rabbit Creek Community Church (located at 3401 Rabbit Creek Rd.) to the Northeast and the position of our house makes us their most immediate neighbor. We have lived at our property for almost 22 years and had an amicable relationship with the church. We did support the church with their previous expansion project in the mid 90’s, which about doubled the size of the church. At this point with the newly proposed project, which again would almost double the church square footage, we feel that this size increase could generate significant adverse impacts for us and the other neighbors and potentially degrade our property values. Consequently, we are opposing the proposed project for the following reasons: 1. The church’s lot on the northeast side from the building to their property line is fairly narrow. In fact in the past they asked for our permission to set their storage sheds past their boundary onto our lot, which is unpaved in that area, to allow themselves more utility space. We approved their request in the past, however we do have some concerns about possible potential groundwater contamination from stored vehicles and equipment. Our well is located only about 40’ from the property line to the church and the aquifer is very shallow. 2. We are concerned about the proximity of our aquifer to the church well and the potential impacts that increased usage by an expanding congregation could have on our water reserves. 3. Because of the short distance from our house to the church we have received in the past a fair amount of noise impacts (vehicles, basketball court, church band practices, etc.) which we have tolerated in the spirit of neighborliness. However, we are concerned about further noise level increases that would surely occur with an ever expanding congregation. Additional traffic and activities will likely occur if the church decides to establish a private school in the future. 4. Our view towards the southwest (ocean and mountain view) was already severely impacted after the 90’s expansion project, even though church representatives had given us the assurance that the post-expansion roof elevation would remain the same. On thecontrary, the roof elevation ended up substantially higher after the last expansion. With the proposed expansion the high roof line would be extended towards the east and essentially eliminate our ocean view. 5. We understand from our long-term neighbors that the church from the onset had portrayed themselves to be a “small community church in harmony with the existing neighborhood”. Especially with the latest expansion plan we feel that the church will far outgrow this category. Other large, Lower-Hillside community churches along Huffman, Dearmond, O’Malley and Abbot Roads appear to have significantly better separation distances between the church buildings and their existing neighborhood properties. Sincerely, Eckart H. Haas Karen Haas | |
| Jeff and Corrine Holt | 2/27/2012 5:41:13 PM |
| We strongly oppose the addtion. We are mainly concerned of the traffic on this portion of Rabbit Creek Road. We've seen many accidents due to the heavy traffic. It's heavy throughout the day and heavier in the mornings and evenings. We strongly disagree that the impact on the traffic would be minimal - especially this portion of Rabbit Creek Rd. That property should stay residential. If they want to expand, then purchase properly elsewhere to allow that. It's zoned residential and should remain residential. | |