Alexandria residents fight church expansion on West Braddock Road

A proposed church expansion on West Braddock Road in Alexandria is raising concern among neighbors who are taking their fight to the City Council.

Alexandria Presbyterian Church has never had its own home.

Senior Pastor Tom Holliday explains, “We started as a brand new church back in 1986 in Old Town Alexandria,” but have always had to lease spaces, including their current primary location on Russell Road.

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They purchased a church on West Braddock Road and Scroggins Road four years ago and plan to move the entire congregation there permanently.

The current church building is a modest 3,400 square feet, but plans call for that to be demolished and replaced with a new church that will be 22,794 square feet.

It’s already been approved by the City Planning Commission but is not sitting well with neighbors like Richie Weiblinger.

“We are in very close proximity to the church probably within 50 feet," he said.

Weiblinger is among those who’ve appealed to the Planning Commission, bringing their case all the way to the City Council.

Their chief concerns are the traffic impacts and water run-off. They’ve requested a smaller building, larger set-back and eliminating the exit planned for Scroggins Road.

However, neighbors don’t feel their concerns have been addressed by church leadership.

Weiblinger tells FOX 5, “They have said that they wanted to work with the neighborhood and coordinate with the neighbors. Unfortunately it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.”

Pastor Holliday disagrees, saying, “We think it’s a beautiful building. We think it conforms as well as it could with the neighborhood. We’ve taken great pains to make sure of all the options we could have had.”

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson says, at least one concern will be addressed, as the city continues to examine traffic in the already busy stretch of roadway, that’s set to get even busier with this new expansion.

“We have had a number of concerns about Braddock for years and so it’s an iterative process. I think we have made changes and we’ll probably continue to make changes.”

The appeal hearing is open to the public. It’s scheduled for 9:30 am on Saturday, January 25 at Alexandria City Council Chambers.