A church in Columbus Township has received approval on setback requests for its planned facility expansion.
The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals has approved Friendship Missionary Baptist Church’s variance requests, said Jeff Bergman, director of the City of Columbus – Bartholomew County Planning Department. The church is located at 5520 E. Base Road in Columbus Township.
The church plans to construct a 3,600 square foot building addition that includes a new sanctuary with seating for 105 people, a nursery, a sound booth and a pastor’s office/library. There will also be a new parking area in a field north of the church.
“The existing sanctuary has seating for 105 people and the purpose is not to add additional capacity for the church,” planning officials wrote. “The purpose of the expansion is to update the facility for accessibility and safety.”
The church included in its application that the project will “create a safer environment, due to COVID” and improve conditions for about 40 active members. Furthermore, the application states that while the church cannot afford to construct a separate building, it has enough funds to add a sanctuary.
According to a staff report from the planning department, the church requested that the board allow their building addition to have a side setback of 10 feet (20 feet less than required) and a front setback of 47.5 feet from the centerline of 275 East (5 feet less than required).
The board also approved a conditional use application for the expansion in October, since the site is located in the Agriculture: Preferred zoning district.
