Grace City Church Poised To Expand Sunnyslope Compound With New 22,000 Square Foot Building
Originally planned as a 12,000 square foot 'children's training space,' the scope of the project has nearly doubled over the past two years – and some neighbors are concerned
The City of Wenatchee’s Community Development Department on Tuesday gave a thumbs up to Grace City Church’s plan to build a new 22,000-square-foot building on the organization’s Sunnyslope compound at a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) hearing at City Hall.
Ruth Traxler, principal planner for the department, reported to hearing examiner Andrew Kottkamp that her staff had found no reason for the city to deny GCC the right to build the new two-story structure on their 12-acre compound located on a piece of land annexed into city limits in 2017.
“There is no anticipated increase in site capacity because there is no anticipated increase to the main assembly area and so there’s no anticipated increase in parking demand or traffic impacts,” she said.
GCC’s move into the neighborhood, like the organization’s message, is controversial and has been met with pushback.
Neighbors say GCC’s compound has been allowed to sprawl far beyond the plans originally presented and question city officials for allowing GCC to engage in a “bait and switch” con job against the city and their neighborhood.
At the last CUP hearing to review plans of the first version of the building, originally planned to be a 12,000 sq. ft. “children’s training space,” a neighbor named Maggie Boles and others spoke about parking problems, noise issues and environmental impacts GCC’s compound has brought to the area.
“When this project was originally permitted by Chelan County in 2015, the scope of the project was not clearly identified. The neighborhood did not submit comments, or voice concerns, because a typical church typically has minimal impacts to a neighborhood,” she wrote in her letter. “Over the years, as the compound was built, it was apparent that this facility is not an ordinary church, and the impacts are far greater than originally perceived.”
This time no one from the community showed up to push back against GCC’s now-expanded expansion plan. Folks in the neighborhood report that they are “tired” of fighting what feels like a losing battle against dishonest actors with deep pockets and no help from the city.
One neighbor sent a letter of protest to be entered into the record for this hearing. It was included in Traxler’s report.
“We did receive one comment from a neighbor describing concerns regarding the proposed use of the building and concerns or complaints regarding the church’s past history with nuisances noises,” she said.
That neighbor is a retired doctor named James Ethier and in addition to GCC’s noise pollution, which he said he once measured at 74 decibels on his property, he brought up an instance of what he sees as GCC’s blatant dishonesty and refusal to follow the rules.
Just below his property, behind GCC’s “chapel” building, the organization is building what appears to be an amphitheater. It’s a feature that has been promoted in marketing materials going back to 2018.
And in aerial photos taken this week a terraced, landscaped area that looks a lot like an amphitheater can be seen behind the chapel.
Yet according to Ethier, the city had prohibited GCC from building such a venue.
“I attach pictures taken on April 3, 2024, of how GCC is carrying out the building of what appear to be amphitheater seating on their property to the north of the Chapel where previously they were prohibited by the City on a building permit application from creating such a venue,” he wrote.
You can read Ethier’s letter in full and see the photos he attached here.
GCC’s “Pastor of Finances” Kyle Strong was present at the hearing to speak on behalf of the organization and while the issue of the amphitheater didn’t come up, he did address a few of the other concerns neighbors have raised.
Parking was the first thing Kottkamp asked about.
Kottkamp: “With all the uses you anticipate can all parking occur onsite and can you agree there will be no parking offsite?”
Strong: “Can I agree that – such as like on Melody Lane?”
Kottkamp: “Yeah. All parking will be onsite?”
Strong: “That’s certainly, you know, we, that’s certainly our hope. So at least within the church world – not to dodge the question – it’s just I can’t, I can’t control every single person that comes to our church.”
Here’s a video of that exchange, and the rest of Strong’s testimony:
According to The Wenatchee World, about 2000 people attend GCC. According to GCC, they have had about 5000 people on the compound at one time. A quick count of the parking spots shown in the drone photo taken for this article comes to about 276 spots.
Kottkamp said he would have his decision ready by next week and adjourned the hearing.
Making The Most Of An Opportunity To Speak With GCC Pastors
I arrived at City Hall about 10 minutes early and other than Kottkamp and city employees the only people in the room were Strong, GCC’s lawyer and GCC “Pastor of City Groups” Adam James.
I found a seat and Strong and his lawyer found a spot on the opposite side of the room. But James came over and sat right behind me. Thankful for the opportunity, I turned around, introduced myself and shook his hand.
Then I started asking questions.
DB: “Hey, did Brian Burnett leave Grace City Church?”
AJ: “You’ll have to ask him.”
DB: “I’m going to. I heard that through the grapevine. Is Nick Turner still attending?”
AJ: Shrugged
DB: “You know Nick Turner? Arrested for incest, rape of a child? I heard he was a Strongerman. I was just curious if he was still in the mix.”
AJ: “You’ll have to ask him.”
About that time the hearing was called to order.
After Strong spoke but before the hearing was adjourned the trio got up and left. So I hastily grabbed my camera, audio recorder and bag and caught up with them on the steps of City Hall.
“I said everything I had to say in there,” Strong said.
He confirmed he has received my emails with questions and interview requests, but said he doesn’t pay attention to them.
“We’re not interested in speaking with you,” James said. “No comment.”
So I followed up with the following email to Strong and GCC’s Communications Director Luke Ellington later in the day.
“Hi Mr. Strong,
It was nice meeting you and Mr. James in person today. I had a couple follow up questions I didn’t get a chance to ask.
Why did GCC leaders stop referring to your compound as a ‘community center?’
How many guns will be located within the new building?
A former member of your security team said there’s a tunnel that runs around the main community hall/sanctuary that the ‘sheepdogs’ and Mr. McPherson use to move around unseen, and Mr. McPherson has an office in this hidden area. Will there be any hidden rooms or areas in the new ministry building?
A member of the Wenatchee Police Department said there are panic rooms for Mr. McPherson and his family and other GCC leaders in the sanctuary building. Is this true, and are you planning on installing panic rooms in this new ministry building?
Did Brian Burnett leave GCC? I heard he left because he believes being a GCC member is a political liability while running for office. I asked Mr. James but he wouldn’t answer the question.
I also asked Mr. James about Nick Turner, who is awaiting trial for incest and rape of a child, and whether he is still a member of the ‘Strongerman Nation’ but he wouldn’t answer that question either. Is Mr. Turner still attending GCC and do any of you plan on providing him letters of support for his trial?
When do you plan on breaking ground on the new ministry building?
Some of your members have claimed that you have invited me to attend a GCC service and tour the compound - have GCC leaders been telling members this? And is it true? Am I invited to a service and/or to tour the compound? Is so, can I see the tunnel and McPherson’s office and these panic rooms?
Thank you for your time. I’m sorry you guys didn’t feel up to having a conversation in person.
Best regards,”
If Strong or Ellington respond I will update this article.
A Quick Note On Semantics
I understand that describing GCC’s Sunnyslope property as a compound upsets some. There are two reasons I have decided to use the word.
First, according to members of local law enforcement and former members of GCC’s security team, head of security Justin Kissel designed GCC’s emergency preparedness plan using Wenatchee High School’s as a template and the place was designed to be a defensible space complete with panic rooms, gun safes, and “secret” areas like the ones I asked Strong about in my email above.
Second, GCC leaders have been open about how they see the outside world as generally hostile to Christians in general and them in particular. They are open about how much preparation and training they put into being ready to defend themselves with deadly force and former members have reported Pastor McPherson has alluded to the possibility of it being a place where they might have to “make their last stand.”
It's become common for posters on the SourceOne site for your articles to state:
"I don't go to this church",, "I don't know this church"
Then they make disparaging comments. It's almost comical.
Yikes. We always hear something in their comments that brings back memories: this time I thought of the Branch Davidians and their "last stand" at Waco. Thank you AGAIN for being what seems like the only reporter on the ground. The amphitheater is troubling as it seems to directly defy the legalities of the site (and no wonder neighbors are "tired").