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Global Mission Church will have another shot at making the case for its proposed 1,160-seat sanctuary that members want to build in southern Frederick County.

The Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals on Jan. 28 voted 3-1 to send the church's proposal back to the Frederick County Planning Commission, which rejected it in October, for reconsideration.

"We are very pleased with the decision, and felt that the board of appeals correctly recognized that it was appropriate to have further review of the site plan," said Danny O'Connor of Severn, O'Connor & Kresslein, the Frederick law firm representing the church.

The Planning Commission rejected the proposal in October based on a recommendation from the Frederick County Health Department.

The Health Department originally OK'd the project and its septic system in July, but reversed itself in early October. The Planning Commission then rejected the plan based on the Health Department's recommendation for denial.

The church appealed to the Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals.

John Clapp, an appeals board member who made the motion on Thursday to send the project back to the Planning Commission, said church members should have had more time to understand why their plan was denied.

"I think that it was fundamentally unfair to require the applicant to proceed at that point without any understanding as to why the Health Department had changed their mind," he said.

Silver Spring-based Global Mission Church, a primarily Korean parish affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, wants to build an 85-foot-tall, 138,027-square-foot church in Frederick County on 88 acres of land zoned for farming.

The parcel borders Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve, a 93,000-acre area in which development is restricted. Residents of both counties said that the church does not belong in the Agricultural Reserve and would obstruct the view from historic sites, such as Sugarloaf Mountain.

The proposed church would have 67 meeting rooms, a 500-seat dining room, and an 18,000-square-foot open room. The project includes a parking lot with 397 spaces and a 1,160-seat sanctuary.

The church has about 1,600 members, said project director and deacon Man Bae Kim.

A main sticking point before Frederick County officials was the size of church's proposed septic system. The church was allowed a maximum of 5,000 gallons that could flow into the septic every day.

The Health Department determined in July that the church's septic system would be adequate using a state-recommended formula of three gallons of water per sanctuary seat per day, assuming two worship services on the same day.

That would translate to 3,480 gallons of water per day flowing into the septic system, well under the 5,000-gallon limit.

But the Health Department changed its position in October after learning the church could have five worship services each Sunday, more than doubling the water that would flow into the septic system and surpassing the 5,000-gallon limit.

The church alleged that this constituted an administrative error, and the Planning Commission should not have voted to deny the plan.

However, none of the Board of Zoning Appeals members on Jan. 28 said the plan could have been approved without the Health Department's blessing.

But they did wonder whether all applicable laws and guidelines had been considered.

Board member Ron Peppe said he wished he could have heard testimony about 2006 Maryland guidelines and federal water flow guidelines, but neither side presented them so they weren't part of the case's record.

"I'm extremely disappointed that neither side testified with the actual regulation in hand," said Peppe, who did not go into the contents of the regulations because he did not want to testify on the case.

Michael Chomel, a senior assistant attorney for Frederick County, said the board cannot order the Planning Commission to consider the specific guidelines because there was no evidence that its members had disregarded those guidelines in their earlier decision. He also said it would be improper for the appeals board to direct the Planning Commission's proceedings.

In his motion to send the proposal back to the Planning Commission, Clapp said he wanted to make sure all relevant guidelines were considered.

Board member Sean Michalski cast the negative vote while Al Duke abstained.

However, since the federal guidelines came to the board's attention after the record was closed, Michalski opposed making a decision based on them.

Chomel argued that the board could consider the guidelines "quasi-judicially" because they are a matter of public record.

The board soon after voted 3-1 to send it back to the Planning Commission. Michalski was the lone dissenter, arguing that there was no factual basis suggesting that the Planning Commission or the Health Department made an error.

"I don't believe that there is an error that we can point to," Michalski said.

The Planning Commission meets the second and third Wednesdays of the month, and will meet on the fourth Wednesday as necessary, according to its rules of procedures, but agendas available online do not list a date for the church's plan to be reconsidered.