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The city “is taking a very broad interpretation of what the definition of the words church and public worship,” attorney David Chicarelli said. “And that’s where we are just diametrically opposed.”
Meanwhile, downtown bakery owner Joe Kelly, also a nearby resident, said he is “weighing my options” about keeping his business in the city.
“I’m going to look around,” he said last week about Bakery 151 on North First Street.
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Teen Challenge intends to buy the church, which is surrounded by homes and located a few blocks east of the city’s downtown, with plans to use the vacant site “as an outreach/referral center,” according to city documents.
At issue, Chicarelli said, is whether the organization meets the definition of a “church.” Residents also said Teen Challenge should not operate in residential neighborhood, but an area zoned for business.
At a time when Miamisburg and Montgomery County are both on pace this year to record twice as many drug overdose deaths than in 2016, many residents said Teen Challenge’s programs are needed — just not in a neighborhood of houses.
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The proposal “just doesn’t make sense,” Kelly said.
The church is permitted in the neighborhood as “a non-conforming use” of the zoning code, Miamisburg Law Director Phil Callahan said.
“It’s a legal location for a church,” he said.
Callahan noted documents submitted by Teen Challenge President Rusty Toadvine include a description that “fits within our definition of a church, which is a rather loose definition.”
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Teen Challenge’s mission, city records show, “is serving God by offering His Hope to individuals and families impacted by addiction.”
The organization would include support groups that “involve Bible reading, prayer and conversation.”
“We plan on having a couple faith-based support groups at the church every week. We plan on providing support group training for other local churches in our community and at the church,” according to Teen Challenge’s Miamisburg zoning application.
The center is prohibited, Callahan said, from dispensing or providing medication and hosting overnight stays.
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Miamisburg City Councilwoman Sarah Clark said Teen Challenge’s center will help prevent drug abuse in the area, educate people who suspect a drug problem in their family, and offer support to people who have lost loved ones because of drug issues.
“I think it’s going to be something that’s so beneficial to that community,” she said. “I think this is going to tremendously help to get people off the streets who are drug addicts (and) drive drug dealers away from that neighborhood.
“I really hope that over time those relationships are mended with the neighbors and they’re able to see the benefit of this center to their neighborhood,” Clark added.
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Despite Miamisburg’s legal stance, Callahan said the city “staff is very sensitive to the concerns that the neighbors have….
“Certainly, if the neighbors see (prohibited) things there, please report them to the city and we will investigate them,” he said.
“What (Toadvine) is bringing forth to us fits within our definition of a church,” Callahan added. “And what he has told us he’s going to do fits within our definition.”
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