Naperville woman can’t hold church services in her basement
Daily Herald
By: Marie Wilson
09 September 2016
Debra Richmond
has been operating Life Reach Ministry Church out of the basement of
her townhouse in this four-unit building near 95th Street and Book Road
in Naperville.
Daniel White Staff Photographer
A Naperville woman who has been operating a small Christian church out
of the basement of her townhouse has been asked to find another place
to conduct services.
The planning and zoning commission this week unanimously denied Debra
Richmond's request for special permission to operate a church --
classified as an institutional use -- out of her townhouse in a
residential area near 95th Street and Book Road.
Richmond has been hosting one service a week from about 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. Sundays with three regular attendees and occasional visitors in
her basement, where she says she has space for 14 people.
"Having church service in the home will not have any negative effects
on the neighborhood," Richmond said. "We have been very considerate and
very respectful."
Her neighbor, Dray Howard, said the services have been quiet and she's
never heard the music. But Howard and another leader of the Sawgrass
Winds homeowners association complained to the city when they say
Richmond violated the development's rules about signs and on-street
parking.
No signs are allowed in windows or yards and no parking on the street
is allowed outside Richmond's townhouse on the 2900 block of Brossman
Street, Howard said.
But Richmond recently placed a small sign in her window noting the name
of her church, Life Reach Ministry, and its service time. And neighbors
reported churchgoers parking on the street.
The problem with hosting church services in a townhouse basement is not
so much the worship, but the potential liability that comes from
conducting an institutional function in an area meant only for
residential living, planning and zoning commission members said in
explaining their denial.
"I don't believe it's possible to prevent you from having a group of
people at your house and conducting a religious service," Commissioner
Robert Williams told Richmond, who said she was ordained as a minister
in November 2007. "But when you make an institutional change, and
thereby in essence run a business from your home, then it's subject to
control by the municipality."
The property would have to be brought up to fire code and potentially
carry additional insurance than what Richmond would have as a private
homeowner, commissioners said. And meeting fire code by installing
sprinklers doesn't come cheap.
"There may be a better opportunity to rent space from a building that's already up to code," Commissioner Sean Hastings said.
Following the denial, Richmond said she had no comment. She wouldn't
say what she plans to do with her church now that hosting it at her
home isn't allowed. The next day, the church's website said "we are
moving to a new location."
"I hope your congregation prospers," Williams told her, "but you ought
not to do it in a residential setting because that's loaded with legal
and business problems."
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