COVINGTON, Ga. – Members of the Covington city council voted to appeal the decision of the Historical Preservation Commission (HPC) in regards to the demolition in a 4-2 vote, and reconstruction of First Baptist Church of Covington (FBC) in a 5-1 vote.

The ruling comes following a unanimous denial of 4-0 by the HPC to demolish and subsequently rebuild the long-standing church.

Speaking on behalf of the church was attorney Brandon Bowen from Jenkins, Bowen and Walker P.C. 

Bowen began the appeal by speaking about the overcrowding problem the church is currently facing.

“It [the church] has a congregational membership of well over 700 people. That sanctuary at full is rated to 350 people,” Bowen said. “What I have learned through this process is that sanctuaries and spaces like that really only function at about 80 percent of their capacity. Once it gets above that, it’s too crowded.”

The church also sought consultation from Tom Willis, an architect from Texas to determine if remodeling was the better option. Bowen stated that in his conversation with Willis that “it was not reasonably economically feasible to remodel this church to accomplish the church’s goals.”

Bowen then later alleged that the HPC’s ruling was made on a basis of conflict of interest and not what is listed in the city’s ordinances.

“I am confident in saying that if a big rezoning case involving property next door to you came up, you would recuse yourself because it’s an obvious conflict of interest,” Bowen said. “But that’s not what happened at the HPC. In fact, the HPC member who made the motion resides at the property next door to this church, and in doing so, she led the HPC down a path that is not consistent with the criteria that are actually in this ordinance.”

Bowen then ended his testimony by highlighting the goals of this project and urging the council to remember the ordinance.

“The goal is to make sure the church can remain in the community serving its purpose it has served for 200 years,” Bowen said. “There’s nothing in that ordinance that says you can never demolish buildings, that buildings should not be demolished unless they’re dilapidated. None of that is in the ordinance. There are criteria that apply, and when those criteria are applied, they support demolition.”

The floor was then turned over to FBC pastor Cody McNutt who began his own testimony by questioning the HPC’s decision

“I knew we were in trouble the very first agenda item that night when it asked whether it was even in the jurisdiction of the HPC to allow demolition,” McNutt said. “And I thought, ‘How do they not know their own rules?’”

McNutt later stated that the HPC did not follow their own guidelines in their decision, but that the church did when coming up with this project. 

“We studied the guidelines and we knew the ordinance. We worked for three years on this project. We hired architects with expertise in this stuff. We were led to Mr. Bowen, who knows the rules and laws,” McNutt said. “We don’t have animosity toward the HPC. We simply want to be treated with fairness, with forthrightness, not emotionalism or sentimentality or personal subjective opinions.”

McNutt ended his testimony by urging the council to listen to the room when making their decision.

 “The voice you need to hear is right here in front of you,” McNutt said. “We are growing and the gates of hell won’t prevail against that.”

Around 400 supporters and members of First Baptist Church were in attendance at Monday’s meeting. Many of the supporters spoke out during citizen comments.

“For 50 years I’ve been walking from my house to the church,” said longtime church goer Dr. Bob Faulkner. “As the community’s grown, as the church has grown, it is not adequate anymore. And reluctantly, I’ve had to come to a conclusion that the best solution is to replace the building.”

“We got a problem. We’re family, and we can’t come together all at once,” said Jimmy Wilson.

“We live in very divisive times right now, even in our community. Our church, First Baptist, wants to be able to join together and grow together,” said Hillary Edgar.

Without any deliberation, council member Kenneth Morgan made a motion to reverse HPC’s decision to deny the demolition of the church. It was seconded by Mayor pro-tem Anthony Henderson and passed 4-2 with Fleeta Baggett and Don Floyd opposing.

Subsequently, Morgan made a motion to reverse the HPC’s decision to deny the reconstruction of the church. It was seconded by Susie Keck and passed 5-1 with Don Floyd opposing. 

The Covington News spoke with McNutt immediately following the ruling by the council.

“[I’m] very pleased with the city council’s decision. [I’m] thankful that they decided to overturn the HPC’s denial of our COA and we’re excited about all that God’s gonna do in our church,” McNutt said.

Elsewhere in the meeting, council discussed the warming shelter proposals that were solicited by the City of Covington from Oct. 6 to Oct. 26. 

Special projects coordinator Bailey Dickinson spoke before the council at the work session an hour before the regularly scheduled meeting to discuss the two bids that they received.

Non-profit organization Repairers of the Breach and Full Armor strategies presented costs of $122,780 and $30,000, respectively. Staff recommended that the city move forward with Repairers of the Breach according to a memo obtained by The News.

It was also noted that neither organization had a physical location for the shelter.

Due to this, a motion was made by Keck to table discussion of the warming shelter proposals to the Nov. 20 meeting or a special called meeting that would take place before that date. It was seconded by Morgan and approved 5-1, with councilwoman Charika Davis opposing.

Several other business items were also approved unanimously by the council. Those are as followed:

• Minutes for the regular called meeting held on Oct. 16

• A final reading of an ordinance for the City of Covington which annexed a tract of land on Flat Rock Rd to IND (Industrial)/ M2 zoning.

• An authorization to the Mayor to sign a letter making applications of the Georgia Department of Public Safety office of Professional Standards for the renewal of the permit for the use of speed detection devices within the city.

• Numerous alcohol licenses for both on and off-premises consumption for a number of local businesses.

• A power service agreement between the City of Covington and Archer Aviation Inc.

• Approved to deposit 100% of the MEAG power’s year End 2024 off-system energy Sales margin settlement into the Municipal Competitive Trust (MCT) flexible operating account.

• An approval of Covington Municipal Airport CIP 

• The nominations of new DDA members Cindy Mask and Bess Dobbs to fill the expiring terms of Larry Sullivan and Bob Stansfield respectively.

• An approval of the 2024 city council meeting calendar.

In other business, four new police officers for the Covington Police Department were also sworn in by Mayor Steve Horton. Those new officers are Patrick Cordell, Jonathan Blackwell, Joshua Ruiz, and Andrew Gutierrez.

The next scheduled meeting for the city of Covington is Monday, Nov. 20.