Redding Council Will Consider Bethel Campus Expansion
Five community members have appealed the Redding Planning Commission’s previous approval of an expansion to Bethel’s new campus. Some say Bethel’s effect on the City’s lack of affordable housing should be a consideration.
Editor’s note: This article is part of our News in Brief series. By producing some stories that are shorter and less in-depth we hope to be able to increase access to important information even with current staffing levels. We’d love your feedback. Email us: editor@annelisepierce
March 22, 2023 6:45 pm: In response to information received from Bethel Church we have updated the article to correct the number of Bethel students pre-pandemic. We apologize for our error.
Last year, Bethel Church finally broke ground for a campus expansion that was approved by the Redding City Council in 2017. Development is occurring on the Church’s thirty-nine acre property, located at the Northeast corner of Twin Tower Drive and Collyer Drive, just north of Highway 299.
A few months ago, Bethel returned to the City for another approval — permission to expand their facility footprint at the site by 20%. Bethel’s modified plans, which staff said would not significantly change the project’s environmental, traffic, or water impacts, was approved by the Redding Planning Commission in December of 2022, along with an amendment to the project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR.)
Now, five appeals of the Planning Commission’s decision have waylaid Bethel again, sending the site expansion issue back to the Redding City Council this Tuesday, March 21, for another review. City staff are recommending that Council deny the appeals, submitted by Anita Brady, Jerry Garcee, Brigitte Robertson, Alex Stephens and Kathryn McDonald, and green light Bethel’s modified campus plan.
It’s not the first time Bethel has faced an appeal process for the campus. In 2017, according to the City’s staff report, the Planning Commission’s approval of Bethel’s original site plan was appealed by twenty-one individuals, who based their concerns on issues related to traffic, water supply and pressure, housing, and biological resources impacts.
The appeals this time around do not appear significantly different. They include concerns about water supply, housing supply, traffic impacts, wetland impacts, grading permit requirements and legal notification requirements.
But while the concerns may remain much the same, circumstances in the City of Redding have changed since the Bethel campus project was originally approved in 2017, notably, the City’s declaration in 2021 of a shelter crisis.
Today, some of those appealing the Planning Commission’s decision assert that any facility expansion plans by Bethel’s leadership should include on-site housing construction to address the fact that Bethel students increase the demand for, and reduce the supply of, affordable/entry-level housing in the community.
The Church runs the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) which now enrolls about 1,000 students annually. That’s a significant decrease in student numbers from pre-pandemic according to Bethel Church spokesperson Brad Everett who shared that from 2017-2020, BSSM’s annual enrollment hovered around 2,500 students per year.
Speaking to the Planning Commission in December, Bethel’s Senior Administrator, Charlie Harper, said the Church hopes to be able to increase the number of in-person enrolled students again in the years ahead.
City staff acknowledge that there’s no doubt Bethel’s lack of student housing affects the quantity and affordability of housing options within the City of Redding. But they still respond to appellants’ concerns by saying that Bethel doesn’t want to provide housing for students, that students might not utilize that housing anyway, and that data provided in the Bethel campus project’s Environmental Impact Report shows that there is not anything unusual with respect to housing issues in Redding as compared to regional, state, and national housing issues.
Bethel Church’s expanded campus development plans will be reviewed at the Redding City Council’s next meeting, which will be held Tuesday, March 21, beginning at 6 pm. You can contact the Redding City Council here.
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