NEW BERLIN — A large crowd packed New Berlin City Hall on Wednesday night as the city’s Board of Appeals heard hours of testimony over a challenge to the proposed Milwaukee Rescue Mission recovery facility.
The dispute centers on whether the proposed 120-bed men’s recovery center qualifies as a church under New Berlin zoning rules.
Last year, the New Berlin Plan Commission ruled the project, called the New Journey program, could move forward in an M-1 light industrial district without rezoning after determining it met the city’s definition of a “community scale church.”
Residents in the group New Berlin Citizens United have spent months fighting that decision and have now filed the appeal before the board.
Opponents argued Wednesday at an appeals meeting that the facility is primarily residential, not religious.
“I would not at all consider this a community-scale church,” Tyler Brenner with New Berlin Citizens United told the board.
“We want to uphold zoning laws and don’t want to set a precedent that would allow anybody to build anything anywhere in our city just using a faith aspect.”
Brenner argued the facility’s chapel space is only an accessory use and that residential dwellings are not allowed under the property’s current zoning designation.
City officials however defended the approval process, saying the proposal underwent months of review with planners, engineers, and attorneys before staff recommended approval.
Greg Kessler, New Berlin’s community development director, testified that the city concluded the project met the definition of a community-scale church because it functions as “a religious use operating a spiritually based addiction recovery program.”
Milwaukee Rescue Mission CEO Patrick Vanderburgh also defended the classification.
“Our mission statement is to share God’s love by caring for people who are poor in body, mind, and spirit,” Vanderburgh told the board.
“We do that by ministering to people in New Journey, so it is absolutely Christian ministry.”
The Board of Appeals did not make a decision on Wednesday night. Members said they plan to reconvene on June 2, when a ruling is expected.
The hearing comes after a Waukesha County judge denied the Milwaukee Rescue Mission's lawsuit seeking to move the project forward while zoning challenges continue.
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