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Walworth committee approves Lakeland Church expansion with 18‑month review after neighbors object to noise and septic plans
Summary
After lengthy public testimony and an organized neighbor opposition, the Zoning Agency approved Lakeland Community Church’s roughly 16,600 sq ft phased expansion, adding an 18-month follow-up review and conditions addressing sound, landscaping and a holding‑tank approach to wastewater.
The Walworth County Zoning Agency on May 21 approved a conditional-use request allowing Lakeland Community Church to expand by about 16,600 square feet in a phased build from 2026 through 2031, but added a required review in 18 months and several conditions intended to address neighbors’ concerns about noise, landscaping and on‑site wastewater.
Church leaders described the project as an investment in community services, saying the expansion would enlarge children's ministry space, improve traffic circulation with an added internal loop road and add parking that county staff have been reviewing with DOT and sanitary authorities. Naomi Holt, Lakeland’s ministry pathway director, and John Strong, the church’s representative, told the committee the project had been through months of review with town and county staff and that a recent sound‑study was in the packet.
Residents led by a designated representative, Lee Pickell, presented an organized opposition file with dozens of years‑long noise complaints and police reports, and argued the church had not finished previously required landscaping and that a holding‑tank approach to wastewater could conflict with earlier permit conditions. The neighbors requested the committee table the request to allow fuller review of materials in hand.
Church representatives said they had completed tests on the septic system, commissioned a sound study, and committed $100,000 to additional landscaping and sound‑mitigation measures. The applicant said engineers and sanitary‑district staff supported a holding‑tank plan as a practical alternative where sewer extension is impractical.
The committee debated whether the expansion itself would materially worsen noise if the technical mitigation measures are implemented; several members noted the town had unanimously approved the project at its meeting and that the county’s packet included a recent acoustical report. After discussion a motion to approve the conditional-use request passed. The committee attached a condition that the project return for committee review in 18 months (or sooner if complaints arise) and stressed that the town and county will monitor implementation of sound‑abatement, landscaping and wastewater conditions.
Next steps: the conditional‑use approval is effective per committee rules but remains subject to the town's parallel approvals and the specified follow‑up review. Staff will track compliance and the committee reserved the right to revisit the matter if complaints persist.
