Businesses Resist Church's Move Next Door

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A group of Natomas businesses are fighting to keep a church congregation from moving into their business center.

The River Church, which has rented space for its services at Inderkum High School for the past decade, has drawn up plans for a 300 seat auditorium plus a second floor of classrooms and offices in a vacant tilt-up space in a North Natomas business complex.

Several business owners who occupy space in the same complex have hit back, saying that sharing a parking lot with a constant parade of weddings, funerals and even a soup kitchen would be bad for their business.

"We as business owners don't oppose a church, per se, we oppose the programs that are going to be going on within the church in the middle of our business center," said Carol Bravo.

The head pastor of the River Church declined to speak to CBS13 about the proposal Thursday, but in a September 2011 hearing with the Sacramento Planning Commission, he said regulations against building in the Natomas flood zone made this move his only option.

The planning commission has already approved the proposal, but business leaders have appealed. The City Council will make a final decision on Tuesday.