Court rules in favor of N.C. church’s food pantry

BISCOE, N.C. — The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled against several local residents who opposed a church’s plan to build a food pantry in Biscoe. The opponents were concerned about parking, with the existing food-distribution program drawing more people than worship services. Around 1990, Page Memorial United Methodist Church began a food-distribution program from the basement of its education building. The food-pantry program was a success, with volunteers distributing food to 200 to 230 people each Saturday. In 2003, the church applied for a building permit to move the site of the food distribution to a new building to be built on an adjoining lot it owned. A group of local residents opposed the move. The town’s zoning administrator and Board of Adjustment decided to grant the church the necessary permits. The residents challenged the action in the courts, focusing on the parking requirement.

The town requires a parking space for every four seats in the “largest assembly room.” The church’s sanctuary seats 120 to 189, requiring 30 to 47 1/4 parking spaces. The church does not have that many parking spaces and relies on on-street parking. The opponents argued that the food pantry would expand the peak parking demand, thereby increasing the scale of the nonconforming use. The Court of Appeals, however, rejected this argument.