Some north Forsyth County residents who oppose the building of a church on Bennett Road must now appeal to county leaders after the project got approval from the planning commission.
Bettina Hammond lives in and represents District 4 on the Planning Commission and spoke to residents attending the meeting, calling them "neighbors."
"I knew through the Planning Commission and throughout this whole process the community did not want this next to them. That was very clear. But we had an applicant who turned in an application that was approved by staff. It conformed to the UDC. It conformed to the comp plan," Hammond said.
She assured residents that she worked with developers to try and please everyone.
"Now, do I think that you're going to agree that this will mitigate your impact? Probably not. But I also had the responsibility for those people who turned in an application who want to have a church here to be fair, too," Hammon said.
The board voted to recommend approval of the church but with 20,000 fewer square feet and 100 fewer parking spaces than the original proposal.
Forsyth County commissioners will make the final decision on the proposed church during their meeting on December 20.
