A specific-use permit allowing Bellaire Church of Christ to construct additional church parking on the northern portion of 8001 S. Rice Ave. has been approved.

Bellaire City Council unanimously approved the permit by ordinance during its Aug. 16 meeting, nearly two months after the council held a public hearing to consider the item.

With the approval, Bellaire Church of Christ will now be able to expand its parking from 70 spaces to 102 spaces, a necessity for the church that meets a 100-space minimum required by the city’s zoning ordinances, but also as it looks to construct a new building.

Despite the church having in its plans a water detention system for the parking lot, the council still amended the ordinance to add a requirement that the church provides a water detention and drainage system.

“Obviously if we don’t include this, the fact that they’re willing to do this detention is not binding on anybody,” said Council Member Nathan Wesely, who raised the amendment.

His amendment was met with support and seconded by Council Member Catherine Lewis.

“I think it is a good idea to add it as an amendment, not because we don’t believe the church will follow through on that, but because it would satisfy a lot of the surrounding residents who are concerned about runoff and detention,” she said.

The drainage system would need to cover 50% of the lot and 30% of an acre to help offset drainage concerns caused by the additional lot coverage, according to the agenda report. This joins other work the church will need to have done, such as removing a portion of the church’s current parking lot at 1012 Pauline St. within 90 days of constructing the new parking lot, which the church will then sell for single-family residential use in order to help defray the purchase cost of the land where the new parking lot will go.

When asked if the detention requirement caused any issue, the church’s pastor, Brian Haley, was agreeable.

“We always understood our civil engineer design would have to pass muster with the city engineer,” he said. “I’m reliant upon the expertise and professionalism of our civil engineer and the city’s engineer to make sure that we have a profoundly good system.”

The council had originally been scheduled to vote on the permit July 19, but it was pulled at the recommendation of the city attorney given some uncertainty as to the status of two written petitions in opposition of the application submitted ahead of that meeting. Out of 22 signatures on those petitions, 15 were from property owners within a 200-foot buffer of the proposed parking lot. The city charter requires that if the square footage of properties for petitioners who live within 200 feet of a proposed development is greater than 20% of that buffer, then a supermajority vote by the council is required.

Ultimately, five property owners adjacent to the parking lot remained in opposition by the time of the Aug. 16 vote. However, because the total square footage of their properties did not meet the 20% threshold, the item did not require a supermajority vote.