D.C. Area City Council Nixes Church On Agricultural Reserve

The decision to deny the church's bid to build on the agricultural reserve has sparked furious debate on the use of green space.

1 minute read

December 11, 2005, 5:00 AM PST

By Brenda Meyer

"In another political season, they might have gotten it. The churches are large and growing -- 2,500 congregants, in the case of one applicant, Bethel World Outreach Ministries, which has outgrown its current quarters in Silver Spring -- but the council could have limited them to building on just a fraction of their land in the reserve while keeping the rest untouched or in agricultural use... But council members were faced with the public's rising hostility to fast growth, a scandal involving the disregard of development limits in Clarksburg, and the distaste for the proliferation of McMansions... In such an environment, the churches didn't stand a chance."

FULL STORY: The Politics of Green Space

Sunday, December 4, 2005 in The Washington Post

Community / Economic Development Land Use District of Columbia

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