'Our peaceful quality of life will be gone': Corman Park residents resist church community facility

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The RM of Corman Park council denied a church's application for a community facility after opposition from area residents.

ISL Engineering presented the application to the RM on behalf of the Church of God in Christ Jesus the Pillar and Ground of the Truth.

The plans were to build a community facility that would host up to two retreats a year for the church’s local and national congregation.

The proposed site was on Melness Road (Township Road 352).

“The landowner’s intention is to only host the twice-yearly retreats, there are no other recreational, social, educational or cultural activities planned at the facility during the year,” council documents said.

The application included two buildings: a 10,000 square-foot hall and a chapel of around 9,600 square feet. The proposal said there was no timeline for building the chapel but they intended to build the hall immediately.

Corman Park Reeve Judy Harwood told CTV News the development "just wasn’t a fit for the community.”

The decision comes after 21 letters of opposition were received by the RM.

Dennis and Elaine Postras wrote they were concerned about property values and their lifestyle.

“There will be hundreds of vehicles travelling on Melness Road. These vehicles will result in unsafe air quality from the dust from April – May each year. Road noise and disruption all year long as a result of this facility,” they wrote.

“We have lived in our location for 27 years. Our peaceful quality of life will be gone.”

Other residents expressed concern that the facility would grow in scope.

“I am worried that two events will push to three to four and that once the church is built, we will have noise and traffic on a continual basis,” Rachel Frah said in her letter to the RM.

Another concern expressed was the swath of potential farmland that would be taken up by the project.

“This proposal takes nearly a full 80 acres of land out of ag use unnecessarily, “ Rhonda Reiniger wrote.

She also said she fears the development would not be beneficial to the community.

“Members of this church do not live or work in the RM and therefore will not contribute to the tax base of the RM. .”

Harwood said the organization has the right to appeal the decision but they won’t be able to bring it back in the same capacity.