Welcome Grove

Baptist Church did not receive a welcome mat from Fairburn officials Monday

night.

In fact, the

City Council unanimously turned down a proposal by the church to build

a new facility on Senoia Road at Valleybrook Drive.

The church

currently conducts its services at a building on Plantation Road and wanted

to build a new sanctuary.

But the council

listened to the residents near the new location and decided the church

should seek somewhere else to build.

Dot Coughlin,

who lives on Valleybrook Drive, said the council should consider its vote

carefully and keep the area residential.

"We already

have spotty zoning in Fairburn," she said.

Coughlin asked

the council to look at the church's current facility.

"It's

not my idea of a church that fits into a residential environment,"

she said.

In staff reports,

Bill Johnston recommended approval of the church and said that, typically,

churches serve as a good transitional element in residential areas. If

the council approved the zoning, Johnston recommended placing the structure

closer to Valleybrook Drive, having heavy buffers along the perimeter

and having the facility constructed of brick.

But the council

rejected Johnston's recommendation 5-1, with only Councilman Frankie Arnold

supporting the effort.

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