Churches Caught in Big-Box Backlash

SEATTLE-Big-box retailers are making life hard on churches these days. King County has been limiting the size of commercial building lots (5-10 acres) and buildings in specific rural areas in an attempt to deter warehouse retailers that generate huge amounts of traffic and clog up streets.

The county did so in the traffic-jammed area east of Seattle near the Sammamish Plateau in order to limit developments like the huge Costco outlet that sits adjacent to Costco Wholesale Inc.’s headquarters off Interstate 90 in Issaquah. The problem is that the rule must apply to all rural commercial developments, even churches.

Hundreds of churchgoers, pastors, neighbors and builders jammed the Metropolitan King County Council’s public hearing on Monday, voicing their opinions on the moratorium for new churches and schools in rural areas. “This thing has gone a little too far”‘ says Ron McKenna, an Eastside pastor.