Company Wants to Buy Church Property for Funeral Services
Change from non-profit church to for-profit business in residential zone requires extra layers of approval.
A private company's plan to put the property of a vacating church congregation to use as a funeral home will get another hearing soon and will likely go forward – if not without a little opposition.
The owners of Unity West Church, at 4750 N. Mayfair Rd., want to sell their building and property to Church and Chapel, which offers funeral and funeral planning services at locations throughout the metro area.
The two entities, one non-profit and the other for-profit, came before the Wauwatosa Plan Commission together in June to ask for the changeover.
The sticky wicket was that as a church, Unity West had been allowed to build in a AAA Residential-zoned neighborhood, and so Church and Chapel would need both a new conditional use permit and a zoning amendment.
Initially, when word got around, some feathers were ruffled. But city planner Tamara Szudy made it clear from the introduction of the request, on June 11, that Church and Chapel would not be allowed to perform any embalming, cremation or other preparatory functions at the site – only funerals.
One neighbor was not placated. Acquanitta Patterson, whose property is at the rear of the property on Parkside Drive, did not want a business there, and especially not that type of business.
She told city planners she was concerned about bodies being left in the facility overnight, as well as about chemicals that might be used and pests being attracted to the building.
Nevertheless, the commissioners were satisfied enough with the plan to recommend both the zoning change and conditional use on 6-0 votes.
WauwatosaNOW, in a story published Thursday, reported that the sale of the church is important to the dwindling congregation of Unity West as it seeks to leave a property it can no longer afford to keep up.
"We have not been the best stewards of the property over the past few years," Unity board President Russ Gnant told a NOW reporter.
The city stands to gain, of course, as the property would go from property tax-exempt to taxable status.
To minimize impacts on the neighbors, city planners recommended, and the Plan Commission agreed, to limit service hours to between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The proposal goes next to the Community Development Committee, which meets July 31.
greensheet
8:56 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Those neighbors must be joking. Wouldn't they rather have a reputable business operating on the property, rather than a questionable one? Do they even know who Church and Chapel is? Jeesh- maybe they would like a park built there, good luck with that.
Jim Price
9:03 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012
In fairness, it appears that only one neighbor remained opposed after the conditions were made clear – only funeral services, no mortuary services.
Tosa_L
9:30 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012
I'm pretty sure there's more of a risk of an insect infestation after a church-sponsored hot-dish dinner than the operation of a funeral home. And seriously? She's concerned about bodies being left in the building overnight? Someone needs to explain to her that the zombie apocalypse is really very unlikely.
Mark
8:55 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012
This is the first I have heard of tis and I live in the neighborhood and drive past it daily. For a few years now this building has looked like a well kept vacant buildng with very few cars or people around on any given day. I have to disagree with Russ Gnant statement that they were not very good stewards of the property when it comes to the outside apearance of this property.
I am glad that this building will not become a vacant eyesore like some others in our city but I do have a couple of concerns. One is being that it will be rezoned. Will this affect property values of the properties in the neighborhood? My other concern would be with the amount of parking that is on the Unity west property. Will there be enough parking so the side streets of the neighborhood are not clogged with cars and higher traffic volume? Other than those 2 concerns I see where this property becoming a Church and Chaple should not be an issue and should be welcomed. As I see it it is far better than another vacant building.
Jim Price
9:33 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012
Hi Mark – Under the recommendation from the city planner, this is a zoning amendment rather than a zoning change. I probably should have tried to be more clear on that in the story, but essentially the amendment would be in effect only for Church and Chapel and, should that business decide to leave, the amendment would no longer affect the property – it would revert to AAA Residential. Actually rezoning the property to Business District would have allowed any future owner or tenant to put any kind of business in there, including things that would not have been suitable or in character with the residential neighborhood.
I would think the only effect on your property values would be if any significant proportion of potential buyers had the heebie-jeebies about having hearses and funeral corteges creeping past a few times a day.
Interestingly, the Plan Commission and Planning Division didn't address that, nor was parking mentioned as an issue. Not being too familiar with the property myself, I can only guess that it was felt that the existing church parking was sufficient to the needs of Church and Chapel.