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Alpharetta council denies Spirit of God Church request amid parking and covenant concerns
Summary
After a contested public hearing, Alpharetta City Council denied a request by Spirit of God Church to convert part of an office/industrial building in Winward (pod 16) to church use, citing parking shortfalls, private restrictive-covenant questions and preservation of the business-center master plan.
The Alpharetta City Council on March 23 denied a conditional-use and master-plan amendment request from Spirit of God Church to operate in an 18,000-square-foot office/industrial building at 145 Noble Court in the Winward business center.
Planning staff told the council the church sought to occupy roughly 2,000 square feet for worship and offices while leasing the remainder to commercial tenants. Staff said the Unified Development Code requires one parking space per two seats for churches, which would have required 64 spaces for a 128-seat assembly area; the site currently has 62 striped spaces, so staff recommended limiting the church to no more than 124 seats and adding a condition that a dumpster be returned to an enclosure. “The church should be limited to no more than 124 seats based on the existing parking spaces at the site,” staff said during the presentation.
The applicant, represented by attorney Wendy Craig, and Pastor Randall Nighton said Spirit of God is a small congregation with a long local history and most members worship virtually. “We at Spirit of God Christian Church are a small church that has been in Alpharetta for all 22 years of its existence,” Pastor Nighton told the council, adding the congregation intended to remain in compliance with city requirements and to use the building largely for office leases during the week.
Opponents, including property owners’ counsel Joshua Scoggins, argued the private restrictive covenants that govern Winward could bar the use and warned enforcement of detailed zoning conditions (counting seats, policing parking) would be difficult in practice. Scoggins said a Kimley-Horn parking study the opponents commissioned found weekend parking deficits under multiple occupancy scenarios and warned of likely spillover parking on neighboring properties and narrower local streets.
Supporters who spoke said the church has been a constructive community presence and did not expect to reach the 124-seat limit soon, but the council’s debate centered on protecting the Winward master-plan designation as a business center and whether converting office capacity to a religious use was appropriate in pod 16. One council member summarized the tension: while the council wants to support religious organizations, it must also preserve the long-term intent of the master plan for the business center.
After discussion, a motion to approve the staff recommendation failed for lack of a second, and a subsequent motion to deny the application carried on the council floor. The council’s vote concluded the public hearing and denied MP-26-1/CU-26-1.
The council’s denial does not determine whether private covenant enforcement could still be pursued by property owners; that is a separate civil matter, not resolved by this zoning decision.
