The Brethren community has conceded for the first time it may consider dropping plans for a 6am Sunday service at a church it wants to build in a Thurgoona residential area.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Spokesman Ross Jensen told a community forum conducted by Albury Council this week about the second attempt to build the church on the corner of Kerr Road and Shepherd Court, the early morning service would be re-visited if it meant the development would be approved.
The 6am service was a major sticking point in the initial plans submitted to council and then withdrawn in 2017.
Mr Jensen was responding to a question from Cr Graham Docksey about whether the 6am service could be changed to a later timeslot.
"6am has been something we as a church right across the world have done," Mr Jensen said.
"It's based on the scripture where Mary and others went early to the tomb."
IN OTHER NEWS
Mr Jensen and planning consultant Warwick Horsfall agreed to consider the option of changing the early start time.
Twenty-three submissions including a petition were lodged objecting to the proposal with issues raised including traffic and pedestrian safety; presentation of the site, loss of property value and amenity impacts from hours of use.
One resident, Rene Wysman, described the proposal as "Fort Knox" during the forum.
The Brethren community already has three churches in Albury and all are located in residential areas.
If approved the church will be built in the south eastern corner of the block with access from a long driveway off Shepherd Court.
Mr Horsfall said building churches in residential areas was allowed and were bound by conditions of consent if approved.
"There is a good reason places of public worship are nominated as one of the few non-residential activities in a R1 zone," he said.
"They are proven to have little or no impact on amenity of residents and that is certainly the case across Albury.
"More than half the churches in Albury and five of the six in Thurgoona are located in a R1 zone.
"This is a small church with less than 50 parishioners seeking to congregate just four times a week, which only two gatherings are on a weekend."
Mr Jensen confirmed worshippers begin arriving between five and 10 minutes before any service starts with residents concerned about the noise generated early in the morning.
Funerals, weddings or baptisms will not take place at the proposed Thurgoona location and will be conducted at another Brethren church in Albury.
A determination date has not been confirmed.
