Facing increasing attendance with limited parking, planners with New Hope First Baptist Church in Cedar Park hope to expand the church in 2015. The church, which was founded in 1868, owns about 16 acres at the southwest intersection of West New Hope Drive and North Bell Boulevard, north of the Deerfield Park subdivision. New Hope Pastor Keith Pate said to handle growth the church plans to add more buildings near New Hope Cemetery, which is located at the the northeast corner of the property. “We have a total of four phases to our long-range plan [for] building out our campus,” he said. The $5.5 million church expansion will add a one-story, 2,522-square-foot foyer and a two-story, 16,038-square-foot classroom building adjoined to the church facility. Mary Dye, a Doefield Drive resident, said she has raised concerns about church activities, such as lighting and loud music, that adversely affect her neighborhood. Pate said New Hope also owns three houses on Doefield and has been using the houses for extra classroom space. The vacant houses lack exterior lighting, which becomes a safety concern for neighbors, Dye said. New Hope plans to replace four additional church-owned houses on Juniper Trail with parking space. Pate said the church has a contractor who wants to resell the houses or materials by relocating the houses, and has raised one house from its foundation in preparation to move. If the relocation effort falls through, the homes will be demolished, he said. Chris Cote, a member of the church’s long-range planning committee, said church planners are working with the city to determine how to file applications to rezone the four residential properties on Juniper. Dye said she believes the church’s construction on Juniper has also negatively affected the neighborhood. “To this date the first home remains torn down, cut apart, with little attention on the project lately,” she said. Cote said the church wants to work with Deerfield residents. “We’re aware of what the needs are, and we don’t want to be bad neighbors,” Cote said. “We’re trying to take as much traffic or all traffic away from going through Juniper and Doefield.”