Bethany World Prayer Center wants to build a nearly 25,000-square-foot church on Jefferson Highway next to Towne Center and is making its case for the new building to the city-parish Planning Commission tonight. Opponents will have opportunity to speak on the proposal at the 5 p.m. hearing.
Originally approved to be the site of a credit union, the 4.9-acre plot is on the south side of Jefferson Highway and west of Towne Center Boulevard. If approved by the Planning Commission, the proposal would go before the Metro Council on Wednesday for a final vote.
Councilwoman Alison Gary, whose District 11 includes the Towne Center, says she doesn’t support the 1,050-seat church because zoning in the area doesn’t allow for more than one entranceway and exit-way, which would connect with Jefferson Highway.
“I don’t want 300 cars coming out of a driveway one at a time,” Gary says. Representatives of the Bethany World Prayer Center were unavailable for comment this morning.
Bethany has two campuses—one in Baker and one off Siegen Lane near Interstate 10. A former campus in Plaquemine is closed. Gary also notes that two apartment complexes are proposed to be built near the Whole Foods-centric Towne Center, and that traffic in the area is expected to increase heavily from those two developments. One of those projects, Cedar Lodge Apartments, is also before the Planning Commission tonight.
When the church proposal was expected to go before the Planning Commission last month, Bethany had said it would hold Wednesday and Sunday services at the facility and also make it available to the public.
The Planning Commission meets at 5 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. Check out the full agenda here. See the complete application for the Bethany World Prayer Center, including architectural renderings here; and the application for the Cedar Lodge Apartments concept plan here.
