Fauquier planners raise wastewater, traffic and screening concerns about Bridge Community Church expansion

Planning staff and commissioners reviewed a special-exception application by Bridge Community Church for an expansion of its ministry campus and a new multipurpose building at a July 17 Falk Atlantic Planning Commission work session.

The proposal covers about 33.78 acres south of Warrenton (split zoned agriculture and rural residential) and would add a one-story, barn-like multipurpose building of about 7,200 square feet, limit new structures to 30 feet in height and increase the church's stated attendance and activity levels. Staff recommended conditions to limit attendance, require stormwater and septic controls, and add traffic and landscaping requirements.

Staff told the commission the applicant seeks a main sanctuary capacity of 499 and a 160-person children’s ministry area, with three Sunday services and multiple weekly activities that together can push weekly attendance levels toward the hundreds. Staff noted discrepancies between the applicant’s stated attendance and the numbers used in the submitted Wastewater Characterization Report: "the applicant has requested 659 attendees per service, but only 653 people are accounted for in the current septic calculations," staff said, and recommended a condition capping Sunday service attendance at 653 per the wastewater report.

On stormwater, staff said…