Church's plan for Prospect Heights campus meets neighborhood opposition

The Bridge, a nondenominational Christian church in Des Plaines, plans to open a second location in Prospect Heights, a proposal that's meeting with opposition from some of its potential neighbors.

Planned for 302 E. Euclid Ave., Bridge Randhurst will be built on the same property as the former Prospect Christian Church, which merged with The Bridge Community Church last year, said lead Pastor Scott Ziegler.

Ziegler said The Bridge has 1,000 members, about 200 to 300 of which he expects to move over to the new Prospect Heights campus.

"We're out of space where we're at," he said. "We don't want to relocate and become a mega church, but we already have a few hundred members in the area so it made sense for us to add a campus nearby."

The Prospect Christian Church building, which was built in 1958, would be torn down under The Bridge's plan. A 14,000-square-foot, one-story building with a 350-seat sanctuary would be constructed in its place.

The project already has received zoning board approval and is expected before the Prospect Heights City Council later this month.

If approved, Ziegler said construction would start this summer and the new campus would open on Easter 2017.

Ziegler says the church is looking forward to being part of the Prospect Heights community, but some neighbors aren't eager to welcome them.

Concerns include lighting, flooding, parking and loss of green space.

"Our neighborhood has a rural feel," neighbor Wendy Dewar said. "We don't have streetlights, we don't have sidewalks. Putting this huge, glass building at the end of our street with parking lot lights and everything, it's a little crazy."

Ziegler said he understands the concerns and will try to address them. The church plans to tear down a home on its property and add a drainage basin to alleviate flooding, will install lighting that won't spill onto other properties, and has offered to put up signs telling members not to park on neighborhood streets, he said.

Residents also worry about losing nearby Tulley Park if the church continues to grow. The park is a grassy area without playground equipment often used for soccer and other outdoor games.

The Prospect Heights Park District had offered to donate the park to the Prospect Christian Church before the merger, Zeigler said, but the church is not pursuing it at this time.

A petition with 80 signatures from neighbors opposing the plan was filed with the park district in October, Dewar said.

"We'd be happy to take over caring for that property, but if we did we wouldn't change anything," he said. "It would still be open to the public."