Germantown BZA approves Harvest Church expansion and parking setback variance with landscaping requirement

At its March 2025 meeting, the Germantown Board of Zoning Appeals approved a use on appeal and granted a variance to allow Harvest Church, at 3645 Forest Hill Road, to expand building space and add parking encroaching into required front-yard setbacks, conditioned on a robust landscaping buffer along Winchester Road and Forest Hill Irene Road.

The vote was unanimous. Vice Mayor Gibson, Mr. Bland, Miss Meanwell, Mr. Towne, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Jacobs and Chairman Mulhollhorn each voted in favor; the tally was 7–0. The board treated the use on appeal and the variance as a single motion amended on the floor to include the landscaping consideration.

Staff presented the application and noted the property is zoned R (single-family residential) and has hosted a church use since its annexation into Germantown in 1998. Planner Sarah identified the zoning-code sections the board would use to evaluate the requests, citing section 23-2-28 (uses in the R district) for the use on appeal and section 23-2-35(a) regarding off-street parking and front-yard placement for the variance. Staff said the proposed site plan would create two connected parking areas served by a service drive and that the net parking total would be 86 spaces after the building additions reduce some existing spaces.

Applicant representative Spencer Ray, who said he is assisting Harvest Church with the application, described the project as a phased expansion that would add classrooms, multipurpose space and limited administrative areas. Ray said the church runs shuttle service from Germantown Elementary School on Sundays and expects the expanded layout and new service drive to improve circulation, reduce queuing on the north drive and allow better ingress and egress. "You have my word on it," Ray said when asked about the church's commitment to enhanced landscaping along the road frontages.

Board members pressed staff and the applicant on specifics. One member asked whether parking on grass (shown in a photo of overflow parking on a recent Sunday) complied with code; staff said it did not. Commissioners also raised the site's topography and existing retaining walls as reasons the layout presented practical constraints. The board and applicant discussed the alignment of the proposed parking with adjacent commercial lots and the need to preserve sight lines at the corner.

The motion that carried approved the use on appeal and the requested front-yard parking setback variances (30 feet from Winchester, 20 feet from Forest Hill Irene), with the amendment requiring a "robust landscape buffer" along the perimeters of the new parking areas on Winchester and Forest Hill Irene. The board noted exceptional topographical and safety-related circumstances in their recorded reasons for approval.

The board and staff noted that detailed implementation of grading, retaining walls, stormwater structures (including a drive crossing a pipe under Winchester), and final landscape plans will be reviewed by the city engineer, the Planning Commission and the Design Review Commission during subsequent phases of review. The applicant estimated construction and occupancy of new classrooms could take roughly 18–30 months if approvals proceed and associated reviews and DRC coordination are completed.

With the approval complete, the board moved to other business and adjourned the meeting.