Neenah council approves special-use permit allowing Alliance Church to hold Sunday services at Horace Mann Elementary

The Neenah Common Council on Dec. 18 approved a special-use permit allowing Alliance Church to hold religious services at Horace Mann Elementary on Sundays, voting 8-0 after a public hearing and a plan commission recommendation.

Neighbors had urged the council to reject the permit, saying the expected congregation size would worsen street parking and raise safety concerns. The plan commission and city staff said state law and zoning standards sharply limit the council’s ability to deny a properly filed special-use application.

Alderman Kathy Steiner, reporting the Plan Commission’s recommendation, asked the council to approve the permit “subject to the conditions on the special use permit review letter including adding Christmas Eve to the allowable days the use may occur,” and moved the measure. Alderman Aldrin Ellis seconded the motion; the council approved it 8-0.

During a public hearing, Jennifer Breining, who said she lives at 1030 Oak Street, urged the council to vote against the permit. “Allowing Alliance Church to use the Horace Mann Elementary would be a major imposition and detriment to the Horace Mann neighborhood due to a significant increase in street parking and traffic,” Breining said, and she cited the school’s 68 parking spaces and estimates of church attendance to argue neighborhood streets would be heavily impacted.

Her husband, Mike Breining of the same address, also urged denial and listed concerns including weekend traffic, school safety, and the potential for church-related items to be left at the school. “I believe that the school district has significantly underestimated the impact of converting Horace Mann on Sundays to a church on its primary mission, which is being a school,” he said.

City Attorney Rashid and Deputy Director Schmidt told the council that state law and the city’s zoning process limit grounds for denial. Rashid said there are “very few, lawful reasons any longer under the amended statute for turning down a request,” and warned that a denial requires substantial evidence. Deputy Director Schmidt explained that the special-use review examines findings of fact and that conditions can be applied; he described the change in capacity during the review and the parking standard the city uses.

Plan commission staff and the permit conditions reflect those constraints. The applicant reduced the auditorium seating from 294 to 272 to meet the city’s off-street parking standard of one space for every four seats in the main auditorium; planners noted that if capacity increases or the number of allowed days changes, the use must return to the plan commission and the council for an amendment. The permit as approved limits the use to Sundays plus Christmas Eve and includes building-code-related restrictions on segregating interior spaces.

The council’s vote followed the plan commission’s recommendation and an 8-0 recorded tally on the council’s voting devices. Alderman Hillstrom was recorded as excused in the roll call.

The permit record notes that future changes to capacity or days of use will require additional review; neighbors and staff were told that traffic impacts would need to be demonstrated with evidence that a street’s capacity would be exceeded before the council could legally deny the use.

The council closed the public hearing before taking the vote.