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Anyone who hasn’t been to Texas lately just doesn’t understand
what a building boom is.
Two weeks ago I was in Dallas. As I was driving through some
of the northern suburbs, there was new construction as far as
you could see in any direction. One of my passengers said, “none
of this was here two years ago.”
I commented that I had noticed on the map that there were very
few small airports around this area. The reason why was obvious
– land is so expensive that no one can afford to purchase a
runway-sized piece of land for a small airport operation.
When I asked if the boom was just in this particular area, or
all over Texas, he said that all of Texas is experiencing the
boom.
Here are just a few examples of the projects going on in Houston
and its surrounding suburbs:
The Tomball Regional Hospital is adding a 10-story, 327,000
sq. ft. structure.
The city bought 47 acres to build a new $18 million wastewater
treatement plant.
Three city blocks will be turned into a pedestrian park at a
cost of $8.9 million.
A St. Luke’ Community Medical Center will provide 84 beds and
a staff of 220.
Four new elementary schools are being built, part of a $315
million bond package.
A new downtown arena is being built at a cost of $175 million.
The University of Houston just opened a new wellness and recreation
center, at a cost of $53 million.
A new college is being built at a cost of $90 million.
A school district just purchased 40 acres at a cost of $3.48
million to build a new intermediate school.
A new library is being built at a cost of $13 million.
In one particular area, hospitals, medical office buildings,
and big retailers are all building new facilities at the same
time.
Then comes the City of Stafford, a suburb at the southwest corner
of Houston. In the heart of the city, they are building a 1,100
seat performing arts theater on 42 acres of prime land at a
cost of $25 million.
You would think that among all this prosperity and expansion
that there would be room for more churches. But on January 29th
of last year, according to the Houston Chronicle, the City Council
of the City of Stafford unanimously passed an ordinance specifically
aimed at regulating the construction of religious institutions
and other large facilities.
The ordinance will allow those facilities to be built throughout
the city, but won’t allow them in single family residential
zones without a special permit.
This is not all that much different than the zoning code requirements
we have here in Tulsa. The difference is that the ordinance
that was originally proposed included a ban on any new church
construction or church expansion in about half of the city.
The reason for the ban was that they feared that “churches,
temples and mosques were taking over and crowding out business”
(quoting the Chronical).
Local religious leaders voiced opposition to the original proposal,
saying that it was too restrictive. The City Council reconsidered
the ordinance, then passed the less restrictive ordinance.
According to the mayor of Stafford, there are 63 churches in
the city already. He also claimed that the reason for limiting
the construction of churches was due to problems caused by traffic,
noise, drainage and “compatibility between different types of
land use”.
There is some merit to the mayor’s argument that churches cause
those kinds of problems, but all large establishments, including
businesses, create those. The new performing arts center that
Stafford is building will create many of the same problematic
challenges as churches do.
It is inconsistent that the City of Stafford can build a such
large downtown facility when it is questionable whether a church
would be afforded the same opportunity.
The fallacy in this kind of discrimination against churches
is the argument that since churches don’t directly generate
tax funds that they don’t benefit the community financially,
when in fact they do. Church budgets average $1,000 per person,
and a large portion of those funds are spent in the community.
Churches provide many social services for their communities
that are invaluable, and even though their influence on their
community isn’t financially quantifiable, it does not mean that
their contribution to community is less valuable.
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