Hearing Examiner To Consider Church Plan Proposal Is To Build Church, Classes, Offices In Post Falls

A Kootenai County hearing examiner tonight will consider a proposal to build a 25,000-square-foot church in Post Falls.

Real Life Ministries submitted a request for a conditional use permit in January. The church, founded in 1998, currently meets at Post Falls Cinemas on Seltice Way.

If approved, the church will be built at the southeast corner of Pines Road and 20th Avenue, within Post Falls’ area of impact. The construction plan includes eight classrooms and offices, as well as a parking lot with 140 spaces. Also planned is a playground and park with covered picnic tables, a soccer and softball field and a garden.

The proposal was held back last month after hearing examiner Scott Brown asked for information about potential traffic problems in the area. Since then, Spokane-based CLC Associates Inc., has conducted a traffic study, said Michael Cramer, the project’s manager.

Church members also hope to build another 15,600-square-foot building that will include a daycare or preschool, classrooms, family counseling and support services. Another parking lot with 95 spaces is also planned.

Cramer said the facility will take up 10 of the 33 acres at the site, which was purchased in December 1999 by the Church Development Fund, based in Northern California. Additional land on the site could be used as a community center in the future, he said. Cramer hopes to start construction by July 4.

Currently, about 80 families attend the church at its temporary building.

If approved, county commissioners will then vote on the proposal. The meeting is at 6 p.m. tonight in the Kootenai County Administrative Building, Room 1A.