A dispute between Columbus property owners and members of New Beginning Full Gospel Baptist Church will be heard by the Columbus City Council Tuesday evening.
At the March 12 meeting of the Columbus Planning Commission, New Beginning pastor Glenn Jefferson asked the commission for a permitted use request to have a church in an R-1 (single-family residential) district. Jefferson said the church would be built at 2533 Highway 69 South on land already owned by the church.
“We bought this land in 1999,” Jefferson said of the 7.3 acres. “Our intention has always been to build a church on this property.”
During the planning commission meeting, opponents to the church claimed an easement owned by a private interest is their concern regarding the church’s request. With a split vote on the request, the issue will go before the city council without a recommendation.
As Tuesday approaches, both sides of the issue said the matter is nothing personal.
“Our biggest concern is traffic,” Deborah Bryant of 2547 Highway 69 South said. “The easement is very narrow. We’ve been keeping it up for 20 years — the city hasn’t done anything about it. We don’t have anything against the church.”
Jefferson said the new building is a necessity for his congregation.
“We currently hold church at 318 Idlewild Road,” Jefferson said. “When we first started, we had about 65 members — now we have between 250-300. We have outgrown the space we are currently in.”
The proposed church is a 10,000 square foot project valued at $1 million Lowndes County District Four Supervisor and New Beginning member Jeff Smith told commission members.
Jefferson said the church is merely trying to give back to the community.
“We need more rooms for Sunday school classes,” Jefferson said. “We plan on having a very nice youth center which will be open to the public. We plan to have after school programs for students and a computer lab where we will help senior citizens become more computer savvy. We are not trying to create problems for the people that live near our property. We are just doing what God told us to do.”
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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