photo by: Eric Ayres

Members of the Wheeling Planning Commission on Monday night unanimously voted against approving a zone change request for the former Edgwood Evangelical Lutheran Church at 1154 National Road from R1B – Single Family Residential to C2 – General Commercial.

Residents came out to Monday night’s meeting of the Wheeling Planning Commission to oppose a proposed zone change for property along National Road in Edgwood.

Several residents of the neighborhood attended the meeting to voice their concerns about a proposal to change the zoning of the former Edgwood Evangelical Lutheran Church from R1B — Single Family Residential to C2 — General Commercial. At the end of a meeting that included a public hearing, members of the planning commission unanimously voted to reject the proposal.

The denial did not come without a considerable amount of discussion over the matter, with a number of commissioners grappling with the notion that city zoning codes basically restrict any feasible future use of the former Gothic Revival-style church building at 1154 National Road. The church was sold after the congregation relocated to Bethlehem in 2016.

Current owner Tom Tuttle noted that he would like to see developers utilize the church for small businesses that would blend in with the neighborhood and complement the boutiques that exist across the street.

Tuttle told members of the planning commission Monday night that he has owned the building for nearly a decade. He said he wanted to see the facility put to good use for the community, but he explained that he has not invested in any plans for it because of the residential zoning.

“I didn’t want to move with any specific plan simply because it makes no sense to me to put that kind of effort into it before I was approved,” Tuttle said. “There are so many possibilities. I’ve been approached about retail space for a variety of missions, if you will.”

Tuttle said he had no intention of tearing down the church building. “My daughter got married there,” he said.

But Wheeling Director of Building and Planning Brenda J. Delbert noted that the church, constructed in 1918, is considered to be a contributing historic structure and could not be razed without city review and approval. Even if it was allowed to be razed, only a single-family structure could be built there under the current R1B zoning code. There are three parcels in the block subject to Tuttle’s zone change request, and currently, only three single-family structures could be built there.

Utility costs alone would prohibit the large church building from being converted into a single residential building, Tuttle noted.

“The crux is trying to figure out the balance of protecting the integrity of our neighborhoods, but also not being so closed off that we have a church where there is no incentive to find investments,” said planning commission member and Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler. “The alternative is to let the church just sit there and rot because nobody is going to pour money into a building that you can’t do anything with.”

Neighborhood residents Robert Dorisio, David and Jessica Zwack, Cathy Przbysz, Mario Muscar, Sarah Koegler and Joseph Anthony Wakim — on behalf of his father — spoke against the proposed zone change during the public hearing Monday night. The residents expressed concern that a zone change would open the door for an array of commercial uses in the future if the property is sold.

A handful of the same residents spoke during a previous hearing in 2019 in which an attorney representing a local bank sought to purchase the church property if it could be rezoned to EMO — or Educational, Medical and Office use — and construct a new bank and 24-hour drive-thru banking facility at that site to serve the Woodsdale-Edgwood area. A petition with more than 100 names on it was handed to the city, and the zone change request at that time was also denied.

Tuttle currently has conditional use approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals to utilize the lower level kitchen in the church. It is used as a commissary where food is prepared in the facility and served from food trucks in the parking lot. There are also picnic tables set up in the church parking lot. By all accounts offered during the meeting, people in the neighborhood have seemed to enjoy the offerings from these food trucks.

Although the Wheeling Planning Commission unanimously denied the zone change request Monday night, officials pledged to help navigate a path forward so that Tuttle can find a future use for the church building that would complement the residential neighborhood.

“As a preservation architect, I would really hate to see that building torn down,” said planning commission member Christina Schessler. “That’s one of my primary focuses here. I am sure that that building can be used for something else, but it sounds like we have our hands tied in helping him find a purpose for it. I don’t want to see commercial property here either. I think it’s too open-ended to just change it to a C2.”

Officials suggested that they move forward with a comprehensive review of the city’s zoning codes with suggestions for possible updates that could help address these increasingly common issues of balancing residential integrity with future economic growth.