Churches

D.C. mayoral candidates are making big promises about easing parking restrictions on Sunday in response to reports that churches are fleeing the capital for locations in Maryland due to difficulties with parking.

February 20, 2014 - Washington City Paper

A mixed-use development being proposed for the First Baptist Church's property in downtown Silver Spring is just the latest in a series of similar projects across the D.C. suburbs that are pitting congregations against preservationists.

February 26, 2013 - Greater Greater Washington

The tradition of celebrating Christmas in church has not changed, but the buildings have. Architects are redefining our urban landscape and not stopping short at sacred buildings.

December 25, 2011 - The Architects' Journal

The Catholic Church and other religious groups are facing hard times, with more churches to maintain than their dwindling numbers can support. But when they are clearly landmarks, should churches be allowed to sell off their building stock?

November 29, 2011 - The Atlantic Cities

How grassroots entrepreneurs and inspired religious leaders are working to erase urban blight in Detroit.

November 1, 2011 - Urban Faith

Jonathan Glancey argues that in the wake of the UK government's culling of Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, and a recession which only diluted our consumerist thirst, the current aim to build cheaply has cost us design quality.

November 6, 2010 - The Guardian

This commentary from church architect Randy Bright argues that New Urbanists unfairly attack church sprawl, and that the cost of developing denser communities is the freedom of the people.

September 17, 2010 - The Tulsa Beacon

The Riverside County Planning Commission is considering opening up more areas to churches, but local wineries are fighting the move, saying that the alcohol business and church don't mix.

July 29, 2010 - The Press-Enterprise

Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in Norcross, Georgia needs a new building. Rather than build a modern box, they're moving a historic basilica all the way from Buffalo, New York, calling their strategy "preservation by relocation".

March 6, 2010 - PlaceMakers blog

The churches of New York 'remain a special category of real estate', says Holland Cotter.

December 27, 2009 - The New York Times

The concept of ripeness in several realms is elusive. I have never figured out how to properly thump a melon at a grocery store, although I have made a thorough study of it. You might want to click here, or here, or here for some guidance, none of which seems to work when it’s just me in a stare down with a cold, stone faced and silent honeydew. Just yesterday one of my younger children from what we call the “second litter” asked me at dinner how I could tell if a coconut was ripe. I paused, realized that I had no answer, and did what every good parent should do and asked instead why they weren’t eating their salad. Yes, attack and divert. You think melons and coconuts are tough — try ripeness in land use litigation.

July 28, 2009 - Dwight Merriam

A church in Phoenix has been ordered to stop giving out free food to the homeless, which the city says is out of compliance with the church's zoning.

July 26, 2009 - KPHO

The unstoppable force paradox is an exercise in logic that seems to come up in the law all too often. There is a Chinese variant. The Chinese word for “paradox” is literally translated as “spear-shield” coming from a story in a Third Century B.C. philosophy book, Han Fiez, about a man selling a sword he claimed could pierce any shield. He also was trying to sell a shield, which he said could resist any sword. He was asked the obvious question and could give no answer. The Washington Supreme Court broke the paradox between a 12-month moratorium during which the City of Woodinville considered sustainable development regulations for its R-1 residential area, and the efforts by the Northshore United Church of Christ (Northshore Church) to host a movable encampment for homeless people on its R-1 property. City of Woodinville v. Northshore United Church of Christ (July 16, 2009).

July 21, 2009 - Dwight Merriam

Another victim of the economic downturn is historic preservation. In New York, a number of churches slated for preservation can't find the funds to keep the bulldozers away.

March 17, 2009 - Bloomberg.com

A Washington, D.C. church contends that its current facility, a historic Brutalist buildling, interferes with its theology and should be able to replace it with something more "welcoming" and fitting with "the scale of the community."

January 14, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

The high costs of preservation and the current economic downturn have pushed the Chicago archdiocese to request a demolition permit for a historic church. But preservationists are pushing back.

December 19, 2008 - Chicago Tribune

Church officials in Ventura County, California, are challenging a decision barring them from expanding into protected open space, arguing that federal law allows them exemptions from zoning controls.

December 15, 2008 - Ventura County Star

The demolition of a registered historic church in Brooklyn has underscored a debate over historic religious facilities between preservationists and congregations who struggle to pay the added costs of owning historic property.

December 3, 2008 - The New York Times

The City Council of Cheyenne, WY, petitioned by local religious groups, are changing zoning rules to allow churches to use land zoned commercial. The decision will open up vacant commercial buildings inside the city.

November 24, 2008 - Wyoming Tribune/Eagle

Plans to demolish three houses to make room for more parking have pitted residents against an Atlanta church, arguing that city's planning blueprint prohibits demolitions for new surface parking. The church has filed suit.

October 6, 2008 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution