Nichols Hills Residents Battle Church Over Youth Center Plans

By Dave Jordan, NEWS 9

NICHOLS HILLS, Oklahoma - A battle brewed in Nichols Hills between a church and its neighbors.

They met Tuesday night with the city planning commission which tabled any decision, telling both parties to work out the issue and come up with a compromise within 30 days.

It was a packed house at city hall over an empty house in Nichols Hills.

The home is owned by Christ the King Church, which wants to use it as a youth center for its younger members.

"A place for the kids to go to after school to just hang out, play a game of pool, engage in a bible study," said parishioner Chip Carter.

Neighbors have raised concerns over their plans.

"Somehow, by having the kids use this house, it's going to hurt property values, made traffic worse," Carter said.

Neighbors argued that's not the issue.

"It was originally zoned for residential," said Linda Durbin, who supports rezoning the house. "Somewhere along the line, the zoning was changed."

Durbin claims the church never contacted the neighbors about its plans to convert the house into a youth center, which is required under zoning laws.

"All we're asking is that the Christ the King allow us to be part of the process," Durbin said.

Because the planning commission didn't make a decision Tuesday evening, it can't make a recommendation to the city council.

Everyone in the dispute is going to have work it out and if they don't, they'll be back at city hall again in about a month.