A Fayette church wanting to

be annexed into Fayetteville to access sewer lines for expansion may not

be able to do so.

That's because city regulations

prevent churches from being located on collector roads, which is the situation

facing Heritage Community Church, currently located just across the county

boundary on Lester Road. The property is adjacent to Cleveland Elementary

School and the church wants to annex the 5.67 acres into the city.

Instead of voting on the matter

at its meeting Tuesday night, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission

decided to table a vote so the matter could be looked into further.

Lester Road "is clearly

identified in our ordinance as a collector street," said city planner

Eldridge Gunn. The requirement that a church can't be located on

a collector street was mainly to prevent problems with parking and traffic,

Gunn noted.

Bob Adams, representing the

church, said the only activity there takes place on Sundays since the

church splits up into groups on Wednesday evenings to meet at the homes

of individual church members.

Commission chairman Myron Coxe

suggested that a traffic study might be needed to determine if the church

would create a problem or if Lester Road can handle the existing and future

plans for the church.

"If this goes forward,

it would have to be a non-conforming use," Coxe said.

The church wants to build a

new sanctuary and add more classroom and office space.

The parcel is currently zoned

agriculture-rural and would be rezoned to low density single family residential

if the church's request is ultimately approved. The city's future

land use map calls for a use of low density single family residential.

The Fayette County Board of

Commissioners has voted in favor of the plan while also being critical

of the rezoning.

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