Christ Church eyes building in Troy

The Troy City Council is holding a public hearing today regarding a property owner’s request to rent space in his downtown building for church gatherings.

Owner Matt Meyer bought the former Umpqua Bank building in November with the goal of allowing the public to hold events in that space, including religious meetings. Meyer said Christ Church is interested in using that space for this purpose.

The building at 424 S. Main St. is in a commercial zone, so a conditional use permit is required to rent the building out for religious meetings.

According to Meyer’s CUP application, other uses in the building will include civic, social and fraternal organization meetings, as well as community events.

If the CUP is approved, the building will hold religious meetings on Sunday mornings.

“The number of people currently anticipated would be in the 80-person range (the majority of which live in Troy); however, the space is ample to accommodate larger meetings, and it should be anticipated that groups up to rated capacity would be possible,” the CUP application says.

The CUP application states that these religious meetings should not cause any problems with the street parking downtown because the streets in Troy “are practically empty on Sundays.”

“If anything, the addition of a religious service to Troy will serve Troy community members who are presently driving to Moscow or Deary to attend a service of their choice,” it states.

The public hearing will include verbal and written public comments. It will be held at 5 p.m. today at the Troy Lions Hall.

The CUP application can be found on the city of Troy website.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.