Eagle Brook Church dropped the proposal to build its 10th metro-area campus in a residential neighborhood after receiving disapproval from a community in Minnesota.
Church leaders drew to this conclusion due to a "variety of known and unknown variables," said in a statement released through Star Tribune.
"Although we would have loved to become a part of the community, we have made the difficult decision to not pursue the development at this time," wrote Steph Hauber, Eagle Brook's expansion director.
More than 1,200 residents and nearby communities signed a petition to block the massive building of the church. According to a petitioner named Kristen Gildemeister, there would be a great impact on their lives once the project was pushed through.
Stating that other Eagle Brook Church locations have typically big capacity than its attendance and no place for overflow parking in this location, most people said the road off Wayzata Boulevard of West Interstate 494 was not a suitable location for a church that would draw thousands of congregants.
Gildemeister thanked everyone who supported the petition after the city planner sent them an email about Eagle Brook's decision.
"I think it was the right decision to make," Gildemeister said. "The two services Saturdays and Sundays, 1,100 cars coming and going during a 45-minute window, would have just made living here awful."
Eagle Brook spokeswoman Karianne Langfield said, "We're thankful we could hear the concerns of the residents ... so we know how to proceed with due diligence in determining how we can make a site like this work."
She also expressed that they will still continue to look for locations to build the planned Church.
In 2020, Eagle Brook had asked also the City of Corcoran for a Conditional Use Permit. They planned to build a 70,000 square foot, 1,500-person building capacity that has an 850-car parking lot in a low-density residential area. It would be located at the northwest intersection of Hackamore Lane and County Road 101. The proposal was also negated by 1,245 petitioners as heavy traffic concerns in the area were high.
"The big concerns were the size and scope and location and how it fits in," Corcoran Mayor Tom McKee said. The city council of Corcoran rejected the proposal after "quite a big outpouring of people wanting to voice their concerns."
According to Eagle Brooke's website, the evangelical church started in White Bear Lake, the place where a small congregation called First Baptist Church began in 1948. The second location was built in Lino Lakes in 2005 and followed by another site in Spring Lake Park in 2007. Anoka, Blaine, Ham Lake, Lakewood, and Woodbury were the five locations that had been added since then. The Church also expanded to Rochester in 2019 and will be adding another location later this year in Apple Valley.
Eagle Brook reported an average of 22,000-weekend attendance at all locations and 13,000 attendances for its online worship services. Currently, they are holding mobile Sunday services in Wayzata High School in Plymouth which will be stopped permanently if the west metro location were established, according to Langfield.
