When Louise Kuhny received a courtesy letter from the city stating the demolition of a house just beyond her backyard was to take place within 45 days, she was irate.

“This would negatively impact the historic and residential nature of the community that everyone is committed to,” she said. “People have put a lot of money into their houses in the area where they thought the preservation was going to remain intact.”

Kuhny, a long time resident of west Urbana, said she and her neighbors should “enjoy what we expected when we bought out homes, to live in an area where historic preservation is taken seriously and is valued.”

That house, located at 804 W. Michigan Ave., won’t be demolished any time soon. The Twin City Bible Church application to demolish the house was approved by the city, but the church withdrew the proposal on Wednesday after meeting with concerned neighbors like Kuhny last week.

According to a plan put together by the church, the demolition of the house planned to open up space for additional parking and green space to compensate for the church’s rising membership. 

Shannon Caughey, senior pastor of Twin City Bible Church, said providing parking for its members has been an ongoing challenge, and the demolition was one solution. 

“We were surprised by the level of concern that was expressed by our neighbors about the development for our property,” he said.

Libby Tyler, city planner, said she addressed at least four calls from concerned neighbors and met personally with a few residents who lived in close proximity to the church. On Nov. 28, a special meeting was called at the City Council Chambers that included leaders of Twin City Bible Church, residents of the West Urbana Neighborhood Association and city council member Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, ward 4. 

The issue around the church’s parking lot stems from more than the demolition of just one house. Kuhny said the intrusion of businesses and high-density apartment complexes in the area would infringe on the rights of homeowners in an historical neighborhood.

“No one wants to buy a home and see it be turned into an institutional area,” she said. “Certainly not with parking lots and noise and traffic.” 

The west side of the corridor, facing Lincoln Avenue, is zoned by the city to contain higher density housing units, while the east side, facing Busey Avenue, contains single-family homes. 804 W. Michigan Ave. lies on the single-family home side, which means the church would have to also acquire another permit to build a parking lot.

“Its better to have backyards to backyards as opposed to a big building facing a residential area,” said alderman Charlie Smyth, ward 1. “It’s a better transition for the neighborhood.”

Lincoln Avenue, which separates campus with the rest of Urbana, has brought much more than just church traffic to the area. Many apartment complexes, fraternities and sororities also disrupts the “neighborhood rhythm,” Smyth said. He said he’s concerned the division between campustown and residential Urbana is being blurred by the expansion of apartment complexes and Greek houses.

“(The problem has) gone away for the moment, but we still have this issue,” he said. “What happened reflects the change in attitudes of the neighborhood in trying to preserve houses.” 

Corinne can be reached at [email protected].