City of Moscow officials have denied a conditional use permit for a proposed music and dance studio downtown after dozens of community members pushed back over the developer’s church affiliation.
Rusty Olps applied for a conditional use permit with the city in order to offer music and dance lessons, which require permission in the downtown zoning district.
Olps’ intent to hold church services on Sundays at the former Paradise Creek Bicycles location wouldn’t need a special permit.
“It seems like having venues in the downtown corridor where people can learn the arts would be in line with sort of the greater aesthetic and cultural vision for Moscow,” he told the Moscow Board of Adjustment Monday.
Dozens of people unanimously testified against the city issuing a permit, saying such a prominent location should be used for a retail business that drives foot traffic downtown.
Many also said Olps’ affiliation with Christ Church’s Pastor Doug Wilson should immediately disqualify his application.
As previously reported by Boise State Public Radio, Wilson would like to remake America into a Christian theocracy by revoking most women’s right to vote along with the voting rights of those who don’t subscribe to his particular brand of Christianity.
“This is essentially a Trojan horse in which we advertise its functions as civic and educational, whereas the proper allegiance is to a religious institution,” said Todd Bailey.
One woman described Christ Church as a “neo-Nazi, Christian nationalist, white supremacist cult” that she doesn’t want to see gaining any further foothold downtown.
Christ Church, its affiliates and individual members have expanded their footprint in downtown Moscow in recent years, including purchasing the former nightclub Cadillac Jack’s and the historic David’s building at Third and Main streets.
The church’s college, New St. Andrews, occupies a prominent building next to Friendship Square and it previously held services downtown at the Nuart Theatre before completing its new worship hall at the city’s northeast edge.
BJ Swanson, Latah County’s elected treasurer and a longtime community leader, said the proposed studio’s clientele aren’t likely to drive up the surrounding economy.
“They usually do not browse adjacent stores or contribute to the retail synergy that makes a downtown thrive,” Swanson said.
Before retiring, she managed commercial real estate, among other responsibilities as a commercial bank executive.
Swanson said she worries Olps’ business plan won’t pencil out and could potentially lead to the property deteriorating like other recent historic building purchases downtown.
“I’m reeling a little bit,” said Olps after the overwhelmingly negative public comment portion of the hearing. “I haven’t [experienced] this level of contempt and prejudice before.”
Board of Adjustment members eventually voted 4-2 to deny the permit, with vice chair Tim Thomson making the motion.
“I have a hard time believing that this is harmonious with the culture and the perception of what the downtown core really stands for,” Thomson said.
Olps didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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