Church looks to buy land at Washington city limits

WASHINGTON — Four years after the city of Washington bought almost 20 acres informally known as the “Bell Property,” for the family name of its previous owners, CITYPOINT Church has announced a tentative plan to purchase a sizable chunk of the real estate.

The city had the land set aside in hopes of pursuing a future housing development, but representatives from the church said they were considering plans to build on a five-acre section of the land themselves.

Church representatives said they met with city officials several times over the last few years, before recently being advised to bring their plan before the council.

The congregation has long gathered on Sundays at Washington High School and owned a small office on Washington’s square. Lead Pastor Tony Widdel said its members appreciated the community support required to do so, but were ready for their own space.

“For the last few years, CITYPOINT has known there’s no rush to get out of the school district … however, we know, one of the best things for our community of faith would be laying down permanent roots,” he said. “We have a growing church, which is exciting for us, and being part of the community, being heavily invested here, we actually believe is one of the best things we could do.”

Widdel said the group had 450-500 people on a given Sunday morning. He said they could meet the crowd’s needs with a facility between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet and 150-200 parking spaces. The rest of the square footage would allow kids, before, after or even during services, to run around, and aesthetically keep the space from feeling too cramped, according to Widdel.

  Buy Photo

The pastor said church decision-makers would aim high, expecting participation and membership to "immediately grow“ if a new building is constructed.

“Any time you lay down actual roots, we actually think we gain credibility,” he said. “In a town that wonders, ‘Are you just somewhere that sets up and tears down and disappears,’ planning ahead is something that matters to us.”

CITYPOINT Church is part of a denomination called Converge, but formerly known as the Baptist General Conference. Washington’s is one of two CITYPOINT locations listed on the church’s website — the other opened in Williamsburg last year according to Widdel — but the Baptist World Alliance reports 1,346 Converge congregations across the globe.

City council members last discussed the Bell Property in June of 2022, when they voted unanimously to spend $7,900 on a conceptual development plan for the land which set aside six acres for a then-unnamed potential buyer, who City Administrator Deanna McCusker said would be tax-exempt.

That detail gave some elected officials pause. Then-Council Member Steve Gault compared the city selling property to a tax-exempt entity to kicking itself, “Right in the seat of the pants,” although he later voted “reluctantly, yes,” in a roll-call to approve funding for the development plan.

  Buy Photo

Council Member Illa Earnest was also skeptical last year of devoting so much of the land to a tax-exempt property, rather than low-to-moderate income housing.

After last week’s meeting, however, she said she wasn’t necessarily opposed to CITYPOINT’s pitch.

“I fixate on taxes, however, if we’re going to make that a housing thing, I find it kind of nice to have a church in the neighborhood, and I can understand them wanting to have their own space,” she said. “I’m not saying right now how I’d (vote,) but I’m more open-minded, I think.”

Elaine Moore is another council member who expressed hesitation about the previously mysterious potential buyer for part of the Bell Property. At the meeting in 2022, she said the space might be better used for housing, of which the city is widely considered to be in short supply.

In a phone call Sept. 26, she said that issue was still on her mind, but emphasized that her eventual vote would largely depend on the financial implications of such a large non-taxable property.

“If we can allow that five acres to go, without hurting the housing need, and the TIF, and the money that we need to pay for the Bell Land infrastructure and so forth, then I’m OK with it,” she said. “I have nothing against the church, I have nothing against a church being part of our community, but I have to think about the citizens, and the consequences of losing taxable property.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com