Thou Shalt Not Build

At 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, the Whitley Memorial Baptist Church on Peachtree Street is rocking. Half-a-dozen pretty little girls in pastel dresses bang on tambourines, while a four-piece, electrified band crank it up to 11 on Spanish language hymns. Youth pastor Nerin Aranda leads the song and worship of the 40-odd congregants who fill the aisles, jumping, shouting, swaying and collapsing in divine rapture.

This is a typical church service for the the Iglesia de Cristo Su Gran Alabanza Assembleos de Dios—only now they may need to pray a little harder. The exuberant parishioners hope to build a new church on Haywood Lane, but a loud cluster of Antioch neighbors doesn't want them there. Some hint—if not flat-out tell you—that they don't want a Hispanic congregation in their backyards, while others say they just don't want to put up with the constant parade of cars rumbling to every service and social.

For much of the last seven years, the Spanish language congregation has met as guests in the little Baptist church on Peachtree Street, owned by the Whitley Memorial congregation, just off Nolensville Road. But the Iglesia de Cristo su Gran Alabanza is expanding, and recently purchased a large piece of land further down Nolensville, on Haywood Lane in Antioch. The land is in a residential neighborhood and is currently occupied by a small ranch-style house. The church would keep the house, but wants to build a new, 10,000-square-foot church behind it, complete with a parking lot for 63 cars.

But tight zoning restrictions and a group of neighbors who like green, open spaces—not to mention peace and quiet—are trying to keep this congregation from, as their pastor says, "constructing our house of the Lord."

The Haywood Lane neighbors have precedent on their side. In 2005, when another church tried to build in the neighborhood, the neighbors rallied to the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals, eventually convincing that church group not to buy on Haywood Lane.

Unfortunately for the Iglesia de Cristo, they've already bought the land. Now, in order to build a church on the property, the Hispanic congregation must get a special zoning exemption from the BZA. The congregation has filed for an exemption but, as in 2005, the neighbors strongly oppose the move.

"It's just not a good fit or a right fit for that lot," says Amelia Workman, who sits on the Haywood Lane Neighborhood Association. She points to traffic issues as the main reason for her opposition, but says that the congregation's initial plan to put a soccer field behind the church also rankles. "We don't feel comfortable with that," she says.

She's not the only one.

"If I'm out layin' by the pool," says David Jones, who lives across the street from where the church would be constructed, "I'd rather not have to listen to Spanish kids playing soccer."

The neighbors insist, not entirely convincingly, that there is no cultural animus directed at the church, which is comprised of mostly Central Americans from Guatemala and El Salvador. "We have a large Latino population [in the neighborhood], we have a large Kurdish population," says Jim Hodge, who represents the area in Metro Council. He also serves as the head of the neighborhood association opposing construction of the church. "We also have various Orientals," he adds. "Korean, Laotian, Thailand...."

Church co-pastor Jorge Dominguez says he hasn't noticed any overt discrimination, though he suspects his congregation's background may not have gone unnoticed. "We have thought about it being a reason [for the neighbors to oppose the church], but we are also naturally sensitive about that."

Dominguez's congregation purchased 343 Haywood Lane for $275,000 in March of this year. The proposed church would lie on a stretch of road that harkens back to Antioch's recent, bucolic past. The lots on that side of the street are nearly three-and-a-half acres and are long and narrow, with neat ranch houses set back from the road. Some folks have swimming pools, koi ponds and little fountains in backyards that stretch out for acres. Special zoning restrictions, enacted by neighbors wary of development, have kept this side of Haywood Lane relatively green and open.

But the rest of the neighborhood looks more like any bustling working class suburb. Haywood is a two-lane road that acts as a major artery, connecting Nolensville Pike and I-24. Residents say that making a left turn into their driveways is often a deadly game of chance, and nobody but a fool would try backing into the street at rush hour.