Members of the Plano Vietnamese Baptist Church accomplished an amazing feat recently. Some might call it a miracle.
The 15 families that make up the church raised $415,000 to purchase their first building – with cash.
Some people dug deep into their savings. Others took out home equity loans, said Pastor Thomas Le.
But now the members can't worship in the 50-year-old building, thanks to an obscure city regulation.
A Plano ordinance passed in 1971 requires churches to sit on at least 2 acres. The Vietnamese Baptist church has 1.2 acres. While the most recent owners used it for other purposes, the structure at Avenue G and 17th Street was built as a church and looks like a church.
The Board of Adjustment went against a city staff recommendation and voted 4-1 to deny an exception to the policy.
The board majority, apparently, was swayed by six residents who complained the church would increase noise and traffic.
The property has plenty of parking, the city says, and the congregation would meet only on Sunday mornings.
The neighborhood is a mix of small frame houses, midsize brick ones, restored Victorian homes and a seedy apartment complex. By comparison, the tan-brick church building looks tidy.
Mr. Le doesn't criticize the board members or the neighbors. He remains convinced God wants the church to have the 8,000-square-foot building. In fact, it didn't finalize the purchase until after the variance denial.
He hoped the City Council would override the board and grant a variance to the 2-acre requirement. But the council can't do so, said Assistant City Attorney Victoria Huynh. State law mandates that board appeals go to district court.
So the church, with help from the Liberty Legal Institute, sued the city. Liberty Legal, based in Plano, is a religious legal advocacy group that has gained nationwide attention. It has successfully challenged several policies of the city of Plano and the Plano school district.
No court hearing has been set in the church case, but Mr. Le hopes for a quick resolution. Members now meet in a crowded storefront.
"They call and ask, 'When are we going to move in?' " he said.
The pastor, like many church members, fled Communist Vietnam in the 1970s. Mr. Le graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1987 and became a successful software engineer and supervisor.
But a mission trip to Vietnam in 2001 persuaded him to abandon his profession and become a pastor.
Even though church members can't occupy the building, they maintain the grounds. People wonder what will happen if the church loses its appeal.
"There's no plan B," Mr. Le said. "We walk by faith."
