Controversial church expansion gets green light

Tim Callaway
CW Alberta Correspondent
alberta@christianweek.org

CALGARY, AB-A Calgary church’s controversial plans for expansion have been given the green light by city council despite persistent opposition from a group of residents in the upscale southwest community.

Westside King’s Church, a congregation affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, received council’s rezoning approval for a church campus that will eventually include a 1,975 seat auditorium, retail shops and condos.

Homeowners in the area have spent the better part of the past year registering their objections to a "Wal-Mart-size, U.S.-style super church."

Council chambers were packed for the March 8 meeting to hear senior pastor Tom Morris suggest the commercial and residential plans associated with the proposed development will benefit the entire community.

"We do not want an adversarial relationship with any of our neighbors whatsoever," Morris stated. "There are people who will at times overstate things to make a point. It’s not Wal-Mart size by any stretch of the imagination and it’s not a U.S. church. The last time I checked, we do live in Canada."

Richard Puckridge, a spokesman for those against the development, had argued the proposal "is an ill-conceived monster of a project with an intensity of development that is simply unreasonable and unacceptable in this current residential area."

Morris countered by saying such concerns were inaccurate and "we do not want an adversarial relationship with any of our neighbors whatsoever."

Westside currently meets in a long, rectangular-shaped building on the site that was formerly a curling rink and a cultural center. The facility has a capacity of around 600 and is no longer suitable for the congregation of close to 1,700 that has been in existence since the mid-1990s when it was commissioned as a church plant by First Assembly Church of Calgary.

The rezoning approval will enable the church to start making some concrete plans to build although specific buildings will still need approval through the city’s planning process.