Methodist Church announces agreement with neighbors on parking

Tuesday’s meeting at Lighthouse United Methodist Church regarding parking started with an announcement that the church had struck an agreement with neighbors in its decades-long fight over parking on Gilchrist Avenue.

“We have reached an agreement on how to remain friends and respect one another,” said Church Council Chair Peter Soderberg. 

He said that the three churches have tried to represent the needs of the church to the neighbors. 

“We think that this agreement in principle will be welcomed by the commissioners and by the staff of Lee County,” Soderberg said. “They have been apprised of that agreement. We are making some real efforts to accommodate the needs of the neighbors, and they will see that effort in the next season to come.”

The Boca Beacon has seen an early draft of the agreement, which was delivered to the county manager’s office. It describes in detail the church’s historic use of the street and median for parking, and also details issues of fairness in using the public right-of-way.

“Residents have been granted leeway to encroach on public parking spaces, while churches are being asked to retreat from public space,” the letter reads.

In the letter, the church has proposed a solution to County Manager David Harner. They offer that churches can submit a schedule of “known designated events to the County or Sheriff’s Office in advance.” They also mention a need for unplanned events such as funerals and emergency services. They ask for a “mechanism to quickly notify and obtain approval for median use.”

They also support the idea of a permit system for special events, and that the system be made “user friendly and flexible.” They also ask if there could be a general permit for weekly activities, or for one-off large events, a simple online or same-day permit.

Reached Wednesday, Church Council Chair Peter Soderberg said the church had shared the letter with the county. He did not share the final letter with the paper.

“We just need to see how it’s all codified,” Soderberg said. 

One of the key elements is giving advanced noticed of expected usage of the median.

“That’s a communication and coordination mechanism,” Soderberg said.

A question is how much the church will be open to the community. Soderberg said that they will not open the facility to anybody who is not associated with the church’s mission and outreach. The church will remain open for hurricane related relocations from the Community Center. These would have been displaced by the new draft ordinance, which only allows parking on Gilchrist on Sunday mornings.

Regarding the use of the median, they will encourage groups not to use it, and believe that there are “things we can do to encourage our smaller groups not to use the median.”  

Soderberg said the community should know from previous letters to the Beacon how he feels personally about the issue of public access to beaches, he said. Nothing in the letter from the church precludes anyone from a personal position on the issues. 

“We are waiting to see what’s in the regulations,” Soderberg said.