The Henderson City Council voted unanimously last night to ban new storefront churches on Garnett Street between Young Street and Belle Street.
According to Planning & Community Development Director Erris Dunston, the request for the ban originally came from the Downtown Development Commission in an effort to preserve retail and commercial space in the downtown area.
Council member Mary Emma Evans remarked that the city does not want to stop churches from relocating in Henderson. She said that she hoped the council would not allow buildings from which churches are banned to remain empty.
Member Mike Rainey rejoined that the planning board introduced the ordinance to entice businesses to come to available spaces.
Downtown Development Director Phil LaKernick told members that in addition to the Wildflower re-opening in March, someone has purchased four buildings downtown and will be putting retail businesses in them. While stating that he was not at liberty to discuss details, he said that two more building sales downtown are pending, and that he hoped that those would become storefronts as well.
When member George Daye asked LaKernick about downtown crime, the downtown development director replied that crimes downtown usually happen in the off hours when no one is around. He said that as more people live downtown, there will be less crime due to increased observation.
Speaking during the public hearing on the proposed ordinance, Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce President Bill Edwards noted to the council that the original intent had been to protect storefronts along Garnett Street itself, rather than the entire B-1 district.
In the end, the council chose to pass a scaled-down ordinance that regulated storefront churches on one section of Garnett Street only.